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NHS funding for a groundbreaking drug piloted in the North East for patients with multiple sclerosis is now mandatory.

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) has stipulated that adults with relapsing remitting MS not responding to treatment with first-line interferon injections should have access to fingolimod, an oral pill that cuts relapses by more than half compared to a standard injection.

Clinical trials that began in 2004 at the regional centre for the treatment of MS at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI) has meant patients in the North East were among the first worldwide to try fingolimod.

Now all eligible patients should have access to the daily pill, which is proven to be twice as effective as a standard injection. Dr Martin Duddy, consultant neurologist at the RVI said: “A number of patients at our centre have already started treatment with fingolimod and we anticipate these numbers will increase over the coming months.

“Our patients are keen to get started on treatment and we are delighted to be one of the first centres in the UK to have our service up and running.

“It is an important step forward and it gives us another option in the treatment for MS patients.”... Read More - http://www.msrc.co.uk/index.cfm/fuseact ... ageid/1309

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