Fumaric salts, Biogen funds huge study. New "treatment&

[CureIous]

Just tickled with some of the stuff that hits the inbox on a daily basis. Highly recommend all to sign up for google news alerts, with keywords multiple sclerosis and another one for ccsvi. It's like having a front row seat to the news cycle as it happens.

Fumaric salts have been used to treat psoriasis, and now, it appears the anti-oxidative effects that help that condition, also may help MS sufferers, and Biogen is leading the way with a large scale study, Phase III results due this summer, (initial study by Dr. Ralf Gold of ECTRIMS fyi), another way for them to capitalize on a very common and easily obtained substance, and use it for huge profits, which of course is why they funded the study in the first place obviously. Imagine going to the Dr. with CIS, and getting not one, but two treatments from the same company, all in one handy packet that fits in hand.

When this first came out, Biogen rushed to buy up Fumaderm, the company that makes the salts for psoriasis treatment. It's not rocket science, since there's ample do it yourself sites for making your own, but I wonder how much the "official" version will cost us?


All that aside, if the protective properties of this very common salt (which is used in a variety of food additives in a less potent form as an acidulant, or acidic flavor) live up to the potential (note: did not say "hype" as is usually intimated to anyone remotely enthusiastic about CCSVI treatment), then we could have a REAL MS treatment that does stuff besides ruining our health and livers.


Fumaric acid
Fumaric acid is the strongest tasting food acidulant. It has limited applications due to its very low solubility. In the main, it is used in gelatin dessert powders, cheesecake mixes and some powdered drinks.

A substantial amount of fumaric acid is used in animal feedstuffs mainly because of its strong flavour and favourable price.

It is manufactured synthetically from malic acid.

Anyways, it's great to see the neurological community go gaga over this, and there may indeed be something there which can have a protective effect on our nerves, and stave off the damage caused by inflammation.

I guess my question would be, besides the obvious anti-oxidative effects, could there be any tie in here to the mechanisms behind CCSVI? Wouldn't it be great if we could not just stave off the inflammation process by this method of protection, but also the hypothetical initiation of that process which could be CCSVI, at the least it would appear to buy time, something precious to our bodies which are under constant assault.

Results of new study are being expected in summer 2011

An international, placebo-controlled, blind study (DEFINE, Sponsor: BiogenIdec) with 1,200 MS patients and the fumaric acid salt BG12 has just been completed under the leadership of Prof. Gold. Evaluation is being expected for summer 2011. "If the study is successful, one could easily imagine that the antioxidant effect of the fumaric acid also synergizes with established MS medication such as interferon-ß thus forming an ideal combination therapy", Prof. Gold speculates. "This is significant insofar as both fumarates as well as interferon do not contain any long-term risks according to the current state of knowledge – unlike many modern strong MS therapies."

Well at least he qualified "according to the current state of knowledge" lol.

Interesting times, we should be called M$ patients..

How come Neuros are always free to speculate and nobody rushes to initiate a study as to why Fumaric Acid Salts are useless snake oil when it comes to MS treatment? An "ideal combination therapy", wow, that's heady stuff, glad Dr. Zamboni doesn't talk like that, he'd be more hamstrung than he already is...

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/ ... 030711.php

[MSBOB]

Results seem pretty good so far. I would like to volunteer for this when it gets closer.