New MS drug

[adamsky]

Does anyone know anything about this? How long it will take before people will get it? My wife was recently diagnosed with primary progressive MS and seen this the other day.
http://news.sky.com/story/1566196/drug-dramaticall...

[SiH]

On the assumption that the manufacturers apply for a Marketing Authorisation immediately it'll be somewhere between 9-12 months before the drug is available. There are occasions when the process can be expedited but it'll still be in the order of several months. In addition to that there will then be local funding issues to cross in the form of NICE appraisal and then even more local CCG formulary inclusion. All these take time but patient groups can help to push the processes along.
That having been said there are occasions when the manufacturer can, with the permission of the Regulatory Authorities, allow early access to the drug. It may be worth asking your neurologist to speak to the manufacturers to see if they're going to go down an 'early access'/'named patient programme'/'compassionate use programme' route.
Good luck with everything and hopefully all the parties concerned in the approval process pull their fingers out and it becomes available soon.

[adamsky]

Thanks very much mate

[JWH]

Adam - my Mum has MS, although she's 26 years into the process so in a different position to your wife. Do some reading around the potential benefits of her taking high doses of Vitamin D on a regular basis; it's not something (yet) that's being highly publicised my the medical profession but there's some convincing research around to suggest it could have a significant impact on slowing or even stopping the progression of the disease. As a child of an MS sufferer I have a somewhat increased statistical chance of developing it myself and I'm sufficiently convinced by the research that's being done on vitamin D that I take regular doses of tablets in an attempt to reduce the chance of becoming a sufferer.