New treatment for MS is approved for use on NHS

MULTIPLE sclerosis sufferers have been given a boost after a new treatment developed by an Oxford firm was approved to be available on the NHS.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) has sanctioned the use of Genzyme’s Lemtrada therapy to treat active relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), which accounts for 85 per cent of initial diagnoses of the disease.

Brendan Martin, general manager for Genzyme UK and Ireland based at the Oxford Business Park, said: “This final milestone brings a treatment option to people with MS that could really reshape the management of their condition.

“We are also immensely proud of our association with Lemtrada as a home-grown product, developed by a team of UK scientists.”

About 100,000 people in the UK have MS and about 2,500 people are diagnosed with it each year.

Lemtrada is an antibody therapy which targets CD52, a protein thought to be responsible for the inflammatory process in MS.

The treatment is the second of Genzyme’s treatments for MS to receive approval for NHS use.

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