{"id":208179,"date":"2010-01-21T10:53:03","date_gmt":"2010-01-21T15:53:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.blisstree.com\/?p=139761"},"modified":"2010-01-21T10:53:03","modified_gmt":"2010-01-21T15:53:03","slug":"multiple-sclerosis-drug-trial-promising","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/208179","title":{"rendered":"Multiple Sclerosis Drug Trial Promising"},"content":{"rendered":"

Multiple sclerosis is a neurological<\/em> disease that strikes most often in adults who are just getting going with their life – they’re establishing their careers, starting families, and they have plans.<\/p>\n

MS is a disease that can progress slowly, allowing those affected by it to live fairly “normal” lives. Unfortunately, others deteriorate quickly to the point that they can’t care for themselves before they die. MS is seen more in northern countries, so there is a \"istock_pillbottle\"theory that sunlight – or lack of sunlight – plays a role in the development of the disease. Canada has the dubious distinction of having the highest rate of MS in the world.<\/p>\n

What MS Is<\/strong><\/p>\n

In MS, the nerves in the central nervous system (CNS), which is made up of the brain and spinal cord, degenerate. The nerves are covered with a substance called myelin<\/em>. Myelin also helps the nerves work properly, sending the impulses along. In MS, the myelin sheath degenerates and can no longer protect the nerves.<\/p>\n

There are two types of MS: relapse-remitting MS (RR-MS) and primary-progressive MS (PP-MS). RR-MS is the most common type, affecting between 65% to 80% of newly diagnosed MS. People with RR-MS can progress to PP-MS, however.<\/span><\/p>\n

RR-MS is, as the name indicates, a form of the disease that has relapses – but that also means there are times when there is little or no deterioration. PP-MS is a progressive deterioration.<\/p>\n

Treatment<\/strong><\/p>\n

Right now, there is little doctors can do to slow the progression of MS. Beta-interferon<\/em>, provided as Avonex, Betaseron, and Rebif, may help slow the progression of RR-MS in some patients. However, there may be hope soon.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to results of a study testing the effectiveness of Cladribine<\/em>, published in the on-line version of New England Journal of Medicine <\/em>this week, the medication “<\/span>significantly reduces relapse and deterioration of the disease, and goes a long way to eliminating the unpleasant side effects associated with existing therapies.”<\/p>\n

Cladribine also has the added benefit of being a tablet, which is taken by mouth, and is not taken every day.<\/p>\n

Study<\/strong><\/p>\n

Over one thousand patients with MS were given either two or four short courses of Cladribine per year (one or two tablets daily for four or five days), for two years, or a placebo.<\/p>\n

After the two years, those patients who took Cladribine had a 55% lesser chance of having a relapse than those who took placebos, and they were 33% less likely to get worse than those who took placebos.<\/p>\n

The medication still needs to be studied further. There are no long-term studies yet, so researchers don’t know what will happen in the future to those who are taking Cladribine. However, results like this are promising and may lead to other findings as well.<\/p>\n

~~~<\/p>\n

Image: iStock.com<\/p>\n

Post from: Blisstree<\/a><\/p>\n

Multiple Sclerosis Drug Trial Promising<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Multiple sclerosis is a neurological disease that strikes most often in adults who are just getting going with their life – they’re establishing their careers, starting families, and they have plans. MS is a disease that can progress slowly, allowing those affected by it to live fairly “normal” lives. Unfortunately, others deteriorate quickly to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-208179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208179\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}