Your questions answered Is there information about the long-term use of these drugs?

Questions answered by Prof David Bates and MS Trust Nurse Advisor Vicki Matthews

My Neuro told me there is no proof that is does have any effect on the disability that you get in the longterm, but only reduces the relapses. Is he wrong? Click to read Vicki Matthews answer...

MS Trust Nurse Advisor, Vicki Matthews answer:
There is data going back over 16yrs and this has shown that the DMDs reduce relapse rate and slow the accruing of disability over time and help in keeping you more stable than you would be without them. This is different from the final endpoint of the MS journey; that outlives most clinical trials and even the health professionals who undertake them! But we are collecting information continuously and this does support the prescribing of DMDs.

Professor Bates says that both interferons and copaxone can reduce the levels of disability that will accrue over time, but the MS Trust publication on DMDs, and the NHS decisions website, say the copaxone does NOT reduce the rate of disease progression. I want Professor Bates to be right! Is he? Click to read Vicki Matthews answer...

MS Trust Nurse Advisor, Vicki Matthews answer:
Copaxone is licensed for people who have relapsing remitting MS but does not have the license agreement on the progression aspect of disease modifying therapy. That is not to say it is completely ineffective; it is just that there is not sufficient evidence from the type trials that have been done to grant that part of the licence. For many people with MS Copaxone is an effective treatment and keeps them stable. You are all unique in how you experience your MS and also in how you respond to any treatments. The difficulty with big broad statements is that whilst they can be reasonably applied to a big group of patients, it is less so when thinking about the individual person so we try to consider each individual separately when looking at how successful a treatment is for them.