Multiple Sclerosis Drug Does Not Cause Cancer

Researchers from the Queen Mary University of London are calling on healthcare professionals to reinitiate development of a multiple sclerosis (MS) drug until more evidence about its risk of cancer is published. 


Their piece is published in the journal Neurology: Neuroimmunology & Neuroinflammation. The authors wrote that their new evidence contradicts the belief that the drug causes cancer.   


Cladribine is already licensed for leukemia patients – but it can also be used to treat MS as shown in previous studies in the United Kingdom, the authors explained. In one trial, the editorialists outlined, the drug reduced MS relapses by more than 50 percent. In the same study, nearly 50 percent of people who received treatment with the drug did not demonstrate any signs of disease activity for the subsequent two years.   


However, based on previous data, the drug was refused market authorization, they wrote, because of the suspicion that it may cause cancer.




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