Treatment prospects for MS will improve, says ABPI

The next decade should see further improvement in treatment prospects for people with multiple sclerosis, according to a report published by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI).

According to the ABPI's report: "Target Multiple Sclerosis", the condition shown "astonishing" growth in the 10 years and there is now a substantial number of potential new therapies in the later stages of clinical testing.

The report says the discovery and development of new treatments is a time-and-resource-demanding activity and even with the new options under advanced study, the situation of people with MS will not be transformed overnight.

There are good reasons for optimism for the estimated 85,000 people in the UK suffering from this debilitating condition, first identified 140 yearsago. They are:

· Oral medications that may reduce dependence of frequent

self-injection, to improve quality of life for people with MS.

· Several agents being tested for treating progressive forms of the

condition, for which there have been few options up until now.

· Agents that work by new mechanisms to be used either alone or in combinations.

"Multiple sclerosis is an excellent example of how advances in medicines are usually made in steps," said Dr Richard Barker, ABPI's director general. "It's just dozen years since the first medicine to treat MS was licensed, and now there is a large number of these in development.

"This healthy pipeline of research would not exist without the previous experience of those first medicines to build upon, and a pricing structure that rewards stepwise innovation."

An estimated 2,500 new cases are diagnosed annually. While it is not commonly a primary cause of death, it imposes large costs and quality of life burdens through disability - estimated to average more than £30,000 a year per individual in the UK.

The report, written by Dr Stephen Bartlett, highlights that the greatest prevalence of MS as being in Scotland and Northern Ireland, with lower levels found in south Wales and southern England.

Geographical variation is one of the most striking features of the condition - it is most common in northern countries such as Canada and Scandinavia and lowest in countries near the equator.

"This variation provides evidence for the significance of exposure to sunlight as a protective factor," the report concludes.