Scottish decision due on oral MS drug Gilenya
Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 12:57 am
The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) will decide on today if it will recommend the prescribing of the first oral pill for the treatment of Multiple Sclerosis in Scotland.
Currently, suffers face painful daily injections deep into the muscle or having to travel to hospital for infusion therapy to try to control the disease, which damages the central nervous system, causing a range of disabilities such as problems with co-ordination, speech and vision.
But this treatment could be consigned to the past for thousands of sufferers north of the Border if the SMC gives the go-ahead for the drug Gilenya, the world’s first licensed pill for the condition.
Sufferers would instead take a daily pill estimated to halve the chances of a relapse.
Scotland has one of the highest rates MS in the world with around 10,500 cases diagnosed. Research indicates genetic factors may play a role. The disease is mostly diagnosed in people aged between the ages of 20-40 and affects almost twice as many women than men....Read More - http://www.msrc.co.uk/index.cfm/fuseact ... ageid/1309