NOTE: Please always speak with your MS healthcare team before making any decisions to try new treatments.
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Oct 2021
The drug hydroxychloroquine may not be a cure for COVID-19, but it appears to slow disability progression in people with primary-progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS), at least according to the results of a small study published on September 30 by the journal Annals of Neurology.
In the phase 2 clinical trial, 8 of 35 participants treated with the drug — which has been used for years to treat malaria, a mosquito-borne disease, and is also used to treat some autoimmune inflammatory rheumatoid diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis and lupus — experienced clinically significant worsening of disability between 6 and 18 months after starting treatment, the study found.
On the basis of prior study data, 10 were expected to show signs of worsening disability, according to the University of Calgary researchers, who didn’t respond to requests for comment.
How Disability Progression Was Measured
Study participants were given one 200 milligram (mg) tablet of the drug twice daily, and they were evaluated using several standard measures for MS progression, including an Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score, contrast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), timed 25-foot walk test, the Nine-Hole Peg Test, and the Symbol Digit Modalities Test, the researchers say.
For the purposes of the study, those with a 20 percent or more decline in performance on the timed 25-foot walk test were considered to have worsening disability.
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