Treating Progressive Disease
While there are treatments for relapsing-remitting MS, the development
of treatments for primary and secondary-progressive MS has
been slower. Drug therapies for relapsing forms of MS target
inflammation which is a hallmark of this kind of MS, and these
drugs are generally less effective in the progressive phase
of the disease where inflammation plays a lesser role in the
disease process. Medications for progressive disease must target
the other underlying disease mechanisms of MS and this is more
difficult to do. Several drugs are used in progressive disease,
to varying degrees of success, and these include drugs such
as cyclophosphamide, cyclosporin, imuran and novantrone.
People with the progressive forms of MS also benefit from managing
MS symptoms, rehabilitation and attention to a healthy lifestyle.
For more information about progressive MS, please see Living
With Progressive Multiple Sclerosis.
Novantrone® (mitoxantrone)
Novantrone belongs to the general group of medicines called antineoplastics.
Prior to its approval in the United States for use in MS, it
was used only to treat certain forms of cancer. It acts in MS
by suppressing the activity of T cells, B cells, and macrophages
that are thought to lead the attack on the myelin sheath.
In occasional cases its place in MS therapy is as a second or
third line drug for treatment resistant relapsing MS (for progressive
MS when accompanied by relapses).
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