Last update:
06-Jul-2004

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease. The therapeutic approach to MS is threefold: (a) Management of acute exarcebations, (b) prophylactic treatment which attempts to modify the immunologic basis of the disease, (c) alleviation of everyday symptoms. Acute exarcebations of MS are managed with a 3–5 day course of intravenous methylprednisolone or ACTH analogue followed by tapering doses of oral steroids over a period of one month. Prophylactic treatment includes specific immuno-modulatory/-suppressive medications (i.e. interferon β-1b, interferon β-1a, intravenous immunoglobulin, cyclosporine), non-specific immunuo-modulatory/- suppressive medications (i.e. azathioprine, cyclophosphamide, mitoxandrone, methotrexate), drugs that activate physiologic feedback loops (Cop-1/Copaxone) and a variety of other treatments which are difficult to categorize. Symptomatic treatment is targeted at everyday symptoms, such as tiredness, spasticity, chronic pain and tremor of the extremities. Although the definitive treatment of MS remains elusive, modern basic and clinical research offers an optimistic outlook.

Key words: Immunomodulatory drugs, Immunosuppressive drugs, Multiple sclerosis.