Disappointing Results For Beta Interferon, UK

Main Category: Multiple Sclerosis
Article Date: 05 Aug 2007 - 2:00 PDT

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Authors of an article published in this week's edition of The Lancet medical journal claim a recent study has shown that early treatment with beta interferon reduced the risk for progression of disability by 40%.

Dr Lee Dunster, Head of Research and Information at the MS Society, said: "MS is a long term condition and disability prevention is an important consideration when evaluating potential therapies.

"This paper concludes that early initiation of treatment with beta interferon prevents the development of disability after a three year follow up of a Betaferon trial, however the actual differences between those people treated early and those for whom treatment was delayed are very small.

"We await the results from the five year analysis from the BENEFIT study, but these results show small changes over a short time period and do not provide enough evidence that beta interferon delays disability progression in the longer term."

Multiple Sclerosis Society