Treatment
Progressive MS - Treatment Options
The underlying cause of the growing disability seen in more progressive MS is still uncertain. It probably results from long-term damage to the neurons (nerves) themselves, rather than to the myelin sheath that wraps around the axons. But most of the treatments currently available for MS concentrate on treating the inflammation that leads to demyelination. So, with the exception of Betaferon, they may not be suitable for people with more progressive MS.
One other problem is that trials in the past did not distinguish between people with MS who were at different stages of the disease. The system we now use to roughly describe these different stages is fairly recent. That’s why a key aim in ongoing trials, a need identified by the British Association of Neurologists (refT4), is to include and distinguish between people with specific types of MS - ie relapsing-remitting MS, secondary progressive MS or primary progressive disease.
Researchers are now expending lots of time and effort in studying treatments that might prove useful in more progressive disease. They are looking in particular to find drugs that target the damage caused to the nerves.
Clinical studies that have investigated the use of beta interferon-1a/b drugs in secondary progressive MS have so far produced conflicting results. None of these agents are presently prescribed for people with secondary progressive MS who are not having relapses. Short-term treatments with corticosteroids have been disappointing. A number of other treatments are currently under investigation.
There is presently no treatment for people who have primary progressive MS. Studies investigating the pathogenic processes that underly this form of the disease may help provide drugs in the future (refT10).