Along the way to find a cure for multiple sclerosis, a neurological disease that damages the central nervous system, drugs have been found to slow its progress. One of them could soon be available in Spain after the Bristol Myers Squibb company has been approved for financing Zeposia® (ozanimod), a new therapeutic option for the treatment of adult patients with relapsing-remitting forms of multiple sclerosis ( RRMS), which represent the most common type of the disease at diagnosis, as about 85% of people with MS are initially diagnosed with RRMS.
This approval has been carried out based on two clinical trials, SUNBEAM™ and RADIANCE™, of phase 3 randomized and with active control that analyzed more than 2,600 patients from 150 centers located in more than 20 countries. For example, the study involved 66 people from Spain distributed in 15 centers.
Zeposia® is a once-daily oral drug that modulates sphingosine 1-phosphate receptors (selective for S1P1 and S1P5). “Zeposia® blocks the ability of lymphocytes to leave the lymph nodes, thus reducing the number of lymphocytes in the peripheral blood. The mechanism by which Zeposia® exerts therapeutic effects in multiple sclerosis is unknown, but it could consist of a reduction in the migration of lymphocytes to the central nervous system”, they explain from Bristol Myers Squibb.
Its characteristics and the results in the study have led to the drug being approved for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis with active disease, diagnosed by clinical or imaging procedures. This represents a new way of treating the disease’s relapses and brain damage early on and offers hope for many people with active mild to moderate disease.
Ozanimod reduces brain volume loss by up to 60%
Ozanimod is a first-line treatment, so it can be started as soon as the disease is diagnosed. In addition, it seems to achieve a 60% reduction in brain volume loss, both at a general level and in the gray matter and in the thalamus. This could stop the cognitive deterioration characteristic of this disease.
Zeposia® represents a new way of treating relapses and brain lesions typical of multiple sclerosis from the beginning
More than two and a half million people live with multiple sclerosis worldwide, some 700,000 in Europe and around 47,000 in Spain alone. Most of them experience, throughout their disease, periods of relapse in which they can suffer unpredictable and debilitating effects such as loss of vision, motor difficulty or mental slowness, among others, followed by a partial or complete remission of symptoms.
Early and effective intervention can significantly impact physical and cognitive outcomes over time, reducing disease relapses, a highly relevant indicator of patient outcomes. Despite its high incidence, experts agree that “there is no single treatment strategy. Each person responds differently to the alternatives currently available. The arrival of Zeposia® It brings new hope to many people with active mild-moderate disease.”
As for its side effects, the researchers indicate that they are mild considering that it is an immunosuppressive drug. The most common adverse effects were common infections, such as nasopharyngeal, or herpes zoster, which usually appears with this type of drug.
And it is that, multiple sclerosis has positioned itself as the first cause of disability due to disease among young adults, since the average age of diagnosis is between 20 and 40 years. One of the great characteristics of this health problem is that the immune system attacks the protective myelin sheath that covers the nerves, which causes difficulties when transmitting signals between neurons, although it can manifest itself differently in each patient.
Dr. Xavier Montalbán, head of the Neurology Service at the Vall d’Hebron University Hospital and director of the Multiple Sclerosis Center of Catalonia (CemCat), explained that “up to 80% of people with multiple sclerosis have a mild form -moderate disease. That is why it is so important to find solutions that provide high efficacy from the beginning, offering long-lasting remission periods and that protect the cognitive function of patients in such a way that they can continue to maintain an active life not only physically but also academically or professionally” .
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