The gap between effect of drugs and effectiveness of treatments

[Guest guest]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez1: J Neurol Sci. 2007 Aug 15;259(1-2):128-32. Epub 2007 Mar 23. Links

The gap between effect of drugs and effectiveness of treatments.

Sorensen PS.

Copenhagen

Multiple Sclerosis Research Center, Department of Neurology 2082,

Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark.

pss@...

Despite profound effects on the

immune system, drugs for multiple sclerosis (MS) therapy have shown

only moderate treatment effectiveness. The approved drugs, interferon

(IFN)-beta and glatiramer acetate, have a number of effects on the

immune system that could interfere with the disease processes in MS but

are only able to reduce the relapse rate by 30% and have little or no

effect on disease progression. The new targeted immune therapies,

campath-1H and natalizumab, have shown immense treatment effectiveness

as for inflammation-related disease manifestations, i.e. relapses and

MRI activity, but an effect on long-term disease progression has not

yet been demonstrated. There are several explanations of the gap

between drug effects and treatment effectiveness of which some are

related to the properties of the immune system and some are related to

the properties of drugs used for treatment of MS. To fill the gap we

need to have drugs that both effectively and safely eliminate the

inflammation and in addition have neuroprotective properties. However,

this may not be obtained from a single drug but may require

combinations of drugs with different actions on the disease processes. PMID: 17362994 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]