Evergreen Neurologist Co-Authors Key Study on Multiple Sclerosis Treatment Cost

KIRKLAND, Wash., July 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — A recent study published in the peer-reviewed national medical journal, Neurology, found that common drugs used to treat multiple sclerosis (MS) provide only modest health gains and come at a very high cost in the United States.  Local Evergreen Healthcare neurologist Dr. Lahar Mehta co-authored the study, which was based on research led by Dr. Katia Noyes of the University of Rochester in New York.

The study, “Cost-effectiveness of disease-modifying therapy for multiple sclerosis: A population based study,” found that certain disease-modifying treatments (DMT) only give patients one to two more months of good health over a 10-year period but are exorbitantly expensive.  Researchers concluded that the price of the drugs would need to be reduced by 67 percent to be cost-effective and comparable to prices in other industrialized nations.

The study also pointed out that patients in the U.S. were paying close to three times more for one of the DMT drugs than those in the United Kingdom. There are currently between 250,000 and 350,000 people in the U.S. who have been diagnosed with MS, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).

“Washington has one of the highest rates of multiple sclerosis in the nation,” said Dr. Mehta, a neurologist at the MS Center in Evergreen’s Neuroscience Institute. “At Evergreen, we have been ramping up our research program into this debilitating disease to find new and effective medications and to improve the quality of life for MS patients everywhere.”

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