Experimental Drug Improves Mobility of MS Patients

Boston (HealthKnowItAll) - A new experimental drug may make it easier for people with multiple sclerosis to walk.

Fampridine is the name of the experimental drug, which is manufactured by Acorda Therapeutics, Inc.

In a randomized clinical trial of MS patients from Canada and the US, the drug appeared to boost the walking speed of those patients who received it.

Acorda Therapeutics are very pleased with the results of the study and have thus filed for US approval of their drug.

MS is a disease of the nervous system, and to date, there is no cure for it.

There are drugs currently on the market for MS patients, but none of them have been proven to boost mobility.

“This study indicates that fampridine could represent an important new way to treat multiple sclerosis and perhaps become the first drug to improve certain symptoms of the disease,” lead researcher Andrew Goodman, a neurologist at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York, said in a press release.

“The data suggest that, for a sub-set of MS patients, nervous system function is partially restored while taking the drug.”