New Treatments For Multiple Sclerosis Show Promising Results

By C. Rajan, contributing writer

Researchers at the Victoria University of Wellington are developing several new and promising treatments for multiple sclerosis (MS), including some common anti-psychotic agents.

In a recent study led by Dr. Anne La Flamme, an associate professor in the School of Biological Sciences and head of the MS research program at the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research, two common anti-psychotic agents, clozapine and risperidone, showed promise in effectively treating MS.

Atypical antipsychotic agents, such as risperidone and clozapine, are used to treat schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders. Recent research suggests that these compounds may also have the potential to modulate the immune system both peripherally and within the CNS, and this led the researchers to believe that these compounds may be of benefit to inflammatory diseases such as MS.

According to their report, there are currently ten FDA approved disease-modifying agents, which are mainly used in the treatment of relapsing–remitting MS. Of these drugs, only three are orally administered, and none are effective for primary-progressive disease.  Most MS therapies have a limited efficacy rate of between 30–60 percent or are associated with significant side-effects or toxicity.

"While disease-modifying drugs are currently available, they are often effective in only a sub-population of MS patients and all of these treatments target the disease through traditional immune pathways," said Dr. La Flamme. "What makes our findings so important is that clozapine and risperidone target a very different set of pathways from all other MS drugs, and thus have the potential to treat those MS populations for which no effective therapies currently exist."

The study demonstrates that risperidone and clozapine can reduce MS significantly by reducing the inflammation in the brain that causes this disease. The researchers also noted that the mechanism of action of these drugs in MS is different from how these agents work to treat mental health disorders. "By utilizing existing therapies, this work may more quickly support improved outcomes for people with MS," says Dr. La Flamme.

MS is a neurological disease which is caused by immune cells invading the brain and causing inflammation. It leads to impaired vision and coordination and, eventually, paralysis, explains Dr. La Flamme. The diversity in disease symptoms, clinical progression, and the immune responses, all add to the difficulty in diagnosing and treating MS.

Dr. La Flamme has also recently reported another study for secondary progressive MS, an advanced form of the disease with few effective treatments. In this earlier study, the researchers used a new MS drug, MIS416, developed by the New Zealand biotech company, Innate Immunotherapeutics, and found that it was able to help patients with secondary progressive MS.

"We know this drug works, but we are not sure why. This study has helped us understand the pathways that are driving the disease and how the medication alters the immune system, giving us a better idea of why MIS416 works as well as insight into how to treat patients and predict who will do better on this sort of medication," says Dr. La Flamme.

The study was published last week in the journal PLOS ONE.