Rationale and experience with combination therapies in MS
Rationale and experience with combination therapies in MS
Boggild M. Walton Centre for Neurology and Neurosurgery,
Lower Lane, Fazakerley, Liverpool,
L9 7LJ, UK.
Standard immunomodulatory therapies for multiple sclerosis reduce relapses by around thirty percent and possibly slow progression of disability. In many patients, use of such treatments allows the disease process to be stabilised and quality of life to be improved.
However in patients experiencing frequent severe relapses, for whom prognosis is often poor, they may not be sufficiently efficacious.
Emerging therapies such as natalizumab, alemtuzumab, or mitoxantrone may be more effective in such patients but have potentially greater side-effects that limit their use as maintenance therapies.
