Medicine
SOURCE: See Below
I AM NOT IN THE MEDICAL FIELD
BY ANY MEANS SO
IF YOU HAVE AN EMERGENCY CALL
911
ALWAYS CONTACT YOUR DOCTOR
ABOUT
ANY ALLERGIC REACTIONS.
Always talk to your medical care providers, your
pharmacist
for any
possible allergic reactions
on ALL your medications.
You can look at
WebMD
only as a resource.
SOURCE:
ms.about.com
By Julie
Stachowiak, Ph.D.
MS drugs can alter the course of multiple sclerosis by slowing the
progression of the disease. And since my diagnosis, I have heard more than
once that I picked a great time to have MS because of the variety of MS
drugs now out on the market.
Betaseron®,
Copaxone®,
Avonex® and
others work to modify the disease, but are all different from one another
to some degree. Before working with your doctor to choose an MS drug that
is right for you, you should review the differences in these medications
carefully. It is just since the mid-1990s that there has been any
treatment for MS itself – prior to this, doctors and patients relied on
corticosteroids to shorten
relapses, medications to address different
symptoms, and
physical and
occupational therapy to adjust to and slow disability. The disease-modifying drugs have
been shown to do just what they claim – modify the actual course of MS.
They do this by reducing the number and frequency of new
lesions,
especially the ones that cause relapses.
Some Considerations
One thing to remember when looking at the different medications is
that effectiveness is reported based on a two-year period. However,
longer-term data is starting to become available for some of the older
drugs (Copaxone, Avonex, Betaseron and Rebif), and the results seem to
support the assertion that these drugs are even more effective over a
longer period.
There are many considerations when deciding which therapy to begin,
including: side effects,
type of MS you have, ease
of use and any necessary monitoring. Your neurologist will probably have
an opinion on which therapy he thinks will be best for you, based on the
considerations mentioned, as well as his own experience with patients like
you. The most important thing is that you start taking one of these drugs
as soon as you can.
Approved Long-Term Treatments
The first three long-term MS treatments to be approved
were dubbed the "A-B-C" drugs because of their brand names:
Avonex®,
Betaseron®, and
Copaxone®. These are interferon beta-1a, interferon beta-1b, and
glatiramer acetate, respectively. All were approved by the
Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) for treating RRMS.
These drugs have been used for several years and research shows that
people are doing well on these medications for long periods of time (up to
20 years to date).
The fourth drug to be approved by the FDA was
Novantrone® (mitoxantrone), and this was the first drug indicated for
both worsening RRMS and
SPMS. News then arrived of a fifth FDA-approved
drug for RRMS:
Rebif® (interferon beta-1a). This is the same drug as Avonex, but is
injected differently and in more frequent and higher doses.
Several large clinical trials have been conducted to
study each of these drugs separately for their effects on MS. Although
differences exist in study design and specific findings, trials generally
showed these common results:
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Reduced the number of relapse
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Reduced the severity of relapses
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Reduced the development of new areas of inflammation as
seen on MRI
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Showed some evidence of delaying short-term disease
progression
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Each of the approved treatments has side effects which
are usually manageable. Novantrone is the only drug that has a set limit
of doses, which is necessary to avoid cardiotoxicity (heart damage). The
other drugs appear safe provided the person taking the drug is not
experiencing any adverse effects and blood tests continue to be normal.
While no damage to the reproductive system or the fetus
has been observed, these drugs are not recommended if a woman is pregnant
or considering pregnancy during her treatment period. Male patients
considering long-term treatment should discuss options for family planning
with their doctor.
Other treatments are sometimes used to try to slow MS
disease progression when other therapies have been ineffective. Such
treatments are approved by the FDA for other illnesses, but not
specifically for the treatment of MS. These include intravenous
immunoglobulin (IVIg) therapy, methotrexate, azathioprine (Imuran®), and
cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan®).
Here is a list of
Medications Used in MS from the National MS Society's website with
links to an explanation of the medication.
Websites for the approved medicine for MS.
(click on the medicine name or the logo to go to their
website.)
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