Leukaemia drug 'can ease effects of MS'

A drug used to treat leukaemia can also combat the debilitating effects of multiple sclerosis, new research has found.

The findings, published in the 'New England Journal of Medicine', will bring fresh hope to many MS sufferers.

Led by researchers from the University of Cambridge, the study found a drug called alemtuzumab can stop MS advancing in patients in the early stages of the condition.

MS causes the immune system to attack the protective coating around nerve fibres which prevents messages being transmitted between the brain and other parts of the body.

Symptoms of the disease can include loss of physical skills, sensation, vision, bladder control and intellectual abilities.

A three-year trial of the drug on MS patients showed it can also restore lost function, reversing some of the effects of the condition.

Researchers compared the effectiveness of alemtuzumab with interferon beta-1a, a leading MS treatment.

They found patients treated with alemtuzumab were 74% less likely to experience relapses than those taking interferon beta-1a.

Remarkably, the risk of disability was reduced by 71% among those given the new drug, with many less disabled after three years than at the beginning of the trial.

This suggests alemtuzumab may allow damaged brain tissue to repair and restore lost nerve function.

The findings show alemtuzumab is much more effective than interferon beta-1a in treating early-stage relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS).

The drug helps to stop damage to brain tissue by destroying white blood cells called lymphocytes which helps to shut down the immune system.

Dr Alasdair Coles, lecturer at the university’s Department of Clinical Neurosciences, said: “The ability of an MS drug to promote brain repair is unprecedented. We are witnessing a drug which, if given early enough, might effectively stop the advancement of the disease and also restore lost function by promoting repair of the damaged brain tissue.”

The MS Society said the results of the trial will bring hope to many thousands of people living with the condition.

Lee Dunster, head of research at the charity, said: “The MS Society has been following this trial closely and we are delighted that it has reported such positive results.

“This is the first drug that has shown the potential to halt and even reverse the debilitating effects of MS and this news will rightly bring hope to people living with the condition day in, day out.”

Researchers said more studies are needed before the drug could be considered for approval in the treatment of MS.

Principal researcher Alastair Compston, Professor of Neurology and the head of the Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Cambridge, said: “Alemtuzumab is the most promising experimental drug for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, and we are hopeful that the Phase 3 trials will confirm that it can both stabilise and allow some recovery of what had previously been assumed to be irreversible disabilities.”

Mr Dunster, of the MS Society, added: “More work is needed to prove the drug’s long-term effectiveness and we are very much looking forward to the results of the next stage of this important research, which is already under way.”

Alemtuzumab was developed in Cambridge as a leukaemia drug, but it has also been tested in several diseases where the immune system is overactive, such as multiple sclerosis.

Paradoxically, the treatment’s main side effect is that people can develop other autoimmune diseases because the immune system gradually recovers following exposure to alemtuzumab.

During the trial, 20% of people treated with alemtuzumab developed an over- or under-active thyroid gland, while 3% developed a low platelet count and were vulnerable to bleeding – a complication which led to one fatality.

However, researchers said although potentially serious, this complication can be easily treated if caught early.

The Phase 2 trial involved 334 patients with early-stage RRMS who had not yet received any treatment. They were given either alemtuzumab intravenously for five days followed by three days of re-treatment 12 months later or interferon beta-1a injections three times a week for a year.

The patients were followed for three years to determine the effect of the treatments as well as the level of their disabilities.