Who Is Forging Ahead In The MS Treatment Space?

By Anna Rose Welch, associate editor

The NIH estimates roughly $103 million of its budget will be spent on multiple sclerosis research in 2015. That seems like a small amount of money when it comes to the size of its $40 billion budget. But in doing some digging around, Im seeing signs that there are actually quite a few players big and small in the academic, bio, and pharma realms working in the MS treatment space to benefit the 400,000 U.S. and 2.3 million patients globally.

The treatment space for MS is currently populated by some big names. These include Biogen Idecs quartet: Avonex, Tsyabri, Tecfidera, and Plegridy. Theres also Tevas Copaxone, Novartis Gilenya, Merck KGaAs Rebif, and Sanofis Aubagio and Lemtrada.

But where does the industry stand in terms of finding new, innovative treatment options for the disease? Here are some of the recent efforts Ive stumbled upon as of late:

We might end up seeing more from Novartis besides Gilenya in the future as well. According to the companys website, it has plans to enter its BAF312 in MS into trials sometime before 2019.

While all these players have potential drug candidates in the works, a couple of other sources Ive come across suggest stem cell transplants could be a promising form of treatment. According to The Motley Fool, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) led to substantial improvements in some patients quality of life, and it improved cognitive function and reduced the volume of brain lesions in a trial held at Northwestern University.

Similarly, in Winnipeg, Canada, researchers are exploring the possibility that the MS patients bone marrow stem cells could be the key to treatment. Indeed, a new study published in Neurology has found that bone marrow stem cell transplants were a more beneficial treatment for resetting the immune system in patients with severe MS than the drug mitoxantrone.

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Who Is Forging Ahead In The MS Treatment Space?