Drug Treatment Keeps Multiple Sclerosis at Bay

Interferon beta given in early stages may delay onset of full-blown disease

FRIDAY, Oct. 22, 2004 (HealthDayNews) -- A European study offers more evidence that weekly injections of interferon beta reduce the risk that people with early symptoms of multiple sclerosis will progress to the full-blown disease within two years.

The study, in this week's issue of The Lancet, found that interferon beta reduced the loss of brain tissue in these early stage MS patients, compared to those who received a placebo.

After two years of follow-up, 31 percent of 131 patients who received interferon beta had progressed to clinically definite MS, compared with 47 percent of 132 patients who received a placebo.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans revealed the patients given the drug had 1.18 percent brain tissue loss over two years, compared with 1.68 percent brain tissue loss among patients given the placebo.

"This study has confirmed in a large cohort of patients at the earliest clinical stage of multiple sclerosis that brain parenchymal loss takes place rapidly, and has shown that 22 milligrams of interferon beta-1a, given subcutaneously once weekly, can alter this process significantly. Whether higher or more frequent doses would enhance or reduce this effect remains untested," lead investigator Massimo Filippi said in a prepared statement.

In an accompanying commentary in the same issue of The Lancet, David Miller, of the Institute of Neurology in London, wrote that it's premature to conclude that interferon beta can offer a long-term reduction in disability for MS patients.

More information

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society has more about the disease.

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