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PORTLAND, Oregon – Scientists and doctors have made a breakthrough that could help millions of people with multiple sclerosis around the world.
Tom Scanlan is part of a team of researchers, doctors and scientists who have created a drug that repairs the damage to the nerves by M.S.
"It's a quest you can say for at least 20 years, so I think we're closer than ever to turning this drug into a new drug that would help people," Scanlan said. it's a huge deal for me. "
We have been preparing for 20 years because, in 1996, he developed a drug that had the effect of reducing cholesterol and was adapted to the treatment of the rare neurodegenerative disease called adrenoleukodystrophy, or ALD.
ALD and MS both affect the protective sheath of the nerves called myelin. MS causes your immune system to attack the central nervous system, which damages the myelin sheath. Think of it as the insulation of a copper wire. In case of damage, your nerves can not send or receive messages as they should.
When Scanlan joined OHSU in the early 2000s, his team went to work and tested this drug to repair myelin in MS.
Thanks to a donation from the Laura Fund for Innovation in Multiple Sclerosis, the team was able to put the drug into action.
By using mice with genetically modified MS, the results have been promising.
"There is no medication today that repairs myelin," Scanlan said. "There are medications for MS that help the immune system aspects of the disease, but they do not repair the damaged myelin that occurs with these flair ups of the immune system."
Laura Wieden Blatner was diagnosed with MS in 1995. Her parents created the Laura Fund and named it in her honor.
"Multiple sclerosis has had a positive and negative impact on my life, it has been removed, but it has also brought me a lot more insight and blessings than I would have ever known. ", said Wieden Blatner.
She says this type of medication would be great for someone with MS.
"It could fill all the faculties they lost, whether it's mobility, cognition, vision or speech," Wieden Blatner said. "There is so much that people with MS are fighting against the fact that it would just change their lives, just getting some faculty would be great."
Read the study
The drug is still to take in a few years. It should always go through clinical trials on humans and get FDA approval.
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