Early Interferon Treatment Delays MS

New finding might settle debate on when to start the therapy.

By Ed Edelson
HealthDay Reporter
Friday, August 3, 2007; 12:00 AM

Copyright © 2007 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.

THURSDAY, Aug. 2 (HealthDay News) -- Early treatment with the drug interferon slows the progression of multiple sclerosis (MS) in people with the first symptoms of the disease and reduces impairment, an international study shows.

The study of 468 people found that 37 percent of those who got every-other-day injections of interferon beta-1b progressed to full-blown MS over three years, compared to 51 percent of those who got inactive injections, according to the report in the Aug. 4 issue of The Lancet.

Interferon treatment also reduced the progression of disability by 40 percent, the report said.

Those numbers should help resolve a running debate about interferon treatment for people who experience a first episode of disability that warns of MS, said Dr. Ludwig Kappos, head of the MS-Research Group at University Hospital in Basel.

"Other studies, including the early part of this one, showed that early treatment can delay occurrence of a second episode that allows one to make the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis," Kappos said. "But that the treatment had an impact on remaining ability was not clear. This study shows there is a difference, at least for some people."

MS is a disorder of the central system in which the fatty tissue called myelin that surrounds nerve cells is destroyed. It is thought to be an autoimmune condition, wherein the body attacks its own tissue. Several laboratory-made versions of interferon are commonly used to treat the disease.

To Patricia O'Looney, vice president for biomedical research at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society in New York City, an important aspect of this study is that it measured the progression of the disease precisely, patient by patient, using the well-established expanded disability status scale (EDDS). That scale goes in half-point steps from 0.5, the first sign of the disease, to 9.5, total disability.

"What makes this study different is that it shows delay in progression on the EDDS scale, which other studies have not done," O'Looney said.