New Study Aims To Halt The Progression Of Multiple Sclerosis

There are currently more than 2.5 million people worldwide with MS, a chronic disease that affects the central nervous system.

They suffer from a range of debilitating symptoms including impaired gait and mobility, bladder and bowel dysfunction, cognitive and visual impairment, and profound muscle weakness.

Principal Investigator of the project at the WRI, Dr Pamela McCombe, is a neurologist at both The Wesley Hospital and Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, and also Chairman of the WRI Research Committee. She said "This study might prove to be the strongest, most effective treatment of MS ever."

"Current treatments for MS only reduce the progression rate of the disease. This new treatment, if successful, will actually halt the progression of MS. Not only does it aim to stop MS in its tracks but it will also spare MS sufferers from weekly injections replacing them with infusions over three consecutive days every year."

She added, "The medication targets lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell) to decrease the inflammatory reaction responsible for the progression of MS."

Preliminary studies have demonstrated that as a result of this medication sufferers have experienced fewer disease relapses, a decrease in the formation of central nervous system lesions and a reduction in cumulative disabilities. "This suggests to me that there is every chance this medication will prove successful and become widely used."

This is an international study involving 200 sites. The WRI is one of fifteen sites in Australia to trial this new treatment, and one of only two in Queensland. The other site is the Gold Coast Hospital.