By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, Sept. 12, 2018 (HealthDay News) — Researchers say the first drug for children with multiple sclerosis vastly outperformed another common MS medication in a new clinical trial.
Fingolimod (Gilenya) reduced relapse rates by 82 percent in patients aged 10 to 17 compared with interferon beta-1a, a drug commonly used to slow the progression of the degenerative nerve disease.
Nearly 86 percent of children on fingolimod remained relapse-free after two years of treatment, compared with only 39 percent of children taking interferon beta-1a, researchers reported.
“I do recommend doctors consider using fingolimod as first-line treatment in pediatric MS,” said lead researcher Dr. Tanuja Chitnis, director of the Partners Pediatric MS Center at the Massachusetts General Hospital for Children.
Based on results from this clinical trial, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in May approved the use of fingolimod in children, Chitnis said.
That makes fingolimod “the first drug approved in the U.S. for pediatric MS,” Chitnis said.
Other drugs like interferon beta-1a are used in children, but their use is considered “off-label,” said Bruce Bebo, executive vice president of research for the National MS Society.
“We consider this a major development, a major milestone in the MS treatment landscape,” Bebo said of fingolimod’s approval for use in children.
Multiple sclerosis occurs when the immune system turns on the nervous system and attacks the protective sheath that covers nerve fibers, disrupting communication between the brain and the rest of the body.
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