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Cancer drug may be a possible treatment for multiple sclerosis

A drug that is currently used for cancer can relieve and slow down the progression of the autoimmune disease multiple sclerosis (MS) in rats, according to a new study published in PLOS ONE. The discovery, which was made by researchers at Karolinska Institutet, might one day lead to better forms of treatment for patients with MS.

Multiple sclerosis is a disease in which the immune system attacks the spinal cord and brain, damaging nerve tissues to cause visual impairment, paralysis and other neurological disabilities. There are approximately 17,000 MS victims in Sweden, most of who develop the disease between the age of 20 and 40. The disease is currently incurable, and the treatments that are able to ameliorate the symptoms can have severe side effects.

"There is a particularly urgent need to find new, efficacious drugs with minimal adverse effects for patients with MS in the relapsing phase of the disease," says Assistant Professor Ingrid Nilsson at Karolinska Institute's Department of Medical Chemistry and Biophysics. .... Read More - http://www.ms-uk.org/index.cfm/MSnews

What will they think of next. The MS drugs we have now are not toxic enough so let give them some chemo drugs. Only Big Pharma could come up with something so ridiculous. Wonder how much they are paying this guy to float this idea. Disease is a big business and the FDA (Fraud and Deception Agency) is going to keep it that way. There are people out there now that have good drugs that will help but the FDA says no way. As long as we say "Yea we love all the good drugs that big pharma is giving us" nothing is going to change. If we want change we have to stop listening to the FDA and understand anything they tell us is a lie. A study in England showed people who do the drugs do worse than those who do not do the drugs. Why would anyone fool around with something that is going to destroy their liver?

pretty scarey-not my cup of tea.

i like your definition--

FDA (Fraud and Deception Agency)

oh i am so happy to read this. i will rush home and hug my rats and give them the good news.

want2bike wrote:What will they think of next. The MS drugs we have now are not toxic enough so let give them some chemo drugs. Only Big Pharma could come up with something so ridiculous.

Geez, chemotherapy has long had widespread use in MS patients! When I was diagnosed and hit the MS forums in 2003 (before I found ThisIsMS), the list of mainstream drug options was C, R, A, B & N -- Copaxone, Rebif, Avonex, Betaseron & the chemo drug Novantrone or mitoxantrone. Many, many posters went to Novantrone when they felt the CRABs were no longer effective and their MS was progressing. There's a whole Novantrone forum here at TiMS, as well as one for Revimmune, another chemo drug, I believe.

At that time Tysabri (Antegren at the time) was still in trials, and everyone was looking forward to future oral treatments. I don't hear much about Novantrone experiences these days (it's notorious for its nasty cardiotoxicity, etc.), now that there are so many diverse options being investigated & explored by MS patients -- from the ever expanding list of powerful MS meds to stem cells to diets to antibiotics to CCSVI.

Here's a list of other chemo drugs that were/are also used off label for MS:
http://www.mult-sclerosis.org/mstreatments.html

And here's an article about the Novantrone MS trials at the same site:
http://www.mult-sclerosis.org/news/Jan2 ... ingMS.html