Nueva Luz terapéutica en Esclerosis Multiple

"Unprecedented" Findings for Stem Cell Therapy in MS

By Amy Orciari Herman

Edited by David G. Fairchild, MD, MPH, and Lorenzo Di Francesco, MD, FACP, FHM

Stem cell therapy helped control multiple sclerosis in the majority of patients with relapsing-remitting disease, according to interim findings from an international trial presented at the annual meeting of the European Society for Bone and Marrow Transplantation.

In the trial, 110 patients with frequent relapses despite drug therapy were randomized to autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation or best available drug therapy. Overall, the mean disability score improved with stem cell therapy — an improvement that "is unprecedented in MS treatment trials," according to a news release from Sheffield Teaching Hospitals in the U.K.

In addition, after 1 year, just one stem cell recipient had experienced a relapse, versus 39 relapses in drug therapy recipients. And during a mean follow-up of 3 years, treatment failure occurred in just 6% of stem cell patients, compared with 60% of those on drug therapy. There were no significant side effects with treatment.

The study intends to follow the patients for 5 years.

Sheffield Teaching Hospitals news release (Free)

BBC News story (Free)

Background: Prior Physician's First Watch coverage of stem cell therapy for MS (Free)

Benjamin Hidalgo-Matlock

Skin Care Physicians of Costa Rica

4000-1054

2208-8206

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