Browse by author
Lookup NU author(s): Emeritus Professor David Bates
Full text for this publication is not currently held within this repository. Alternative links are provided below where available.
It is now 15 years since the first disease modifying therapy was licensed for use in people with multiple sclerosis. During those 15 years four therapies have become established for treatment of early relapsing remitting disease and two others have entered the field for treatment of more aggressive disease, or in those patients who are perceived to have failed therapy. Current therapies impact beneficially on the disease process, especially on the number and severity of relapses. The future should bring more effective, tolerable and convenient therapies, and include oral therapies and monoclonal antibodies. The ultimate goal of neuro-protection and repair of damaged areas of the neuraxis may be more distant. It is inevitable when new therapies become available their short term effects and safety will be ensured, but physicians will have to be careful to inform patients fully about risk to benefit ratios and the relative uncertainties of long-term effects of major immunomodulation. This review considers some of the most promising agents now in phase III trials.
Author(s): Bates D
Publication type: Review
Publication status: Published
Journal: Neurology Asia
Year: 2008
Volume: 13
Issue: 2
Pages: 189-193
ISSN (print): 1823-6138
ISSN (electronic):
