Multiple Sclerosis is one of the most prevalent diseases of the central nervous system and directly affects an estimated 2.5 million people worldwide including approximately 8,000 people in Ireland. In fact, in the North West of Ireland the prevalence rate for MS can be as high as 1 in 400.
The news that a new treatment in Canada is producing extremely favourable results will give new hope to sufferers in Ireland. According to the Ottawa Citizen, two doctors, Mark Freedman and Harry Atkins from Ottawa Hospital in Canada, have pioneered this new treatment that involves wiping out a patient’s immune systems and then generating a new one using the patient’s own blood stem cells.
The complex procedure was performed on 24 patients who were followed for up to 13 years to confirm the results. One participant died of liver failure due to the treatment (which has since been modified to make it less toxic to the liver) and another required intensive care for liver complications.
But of those who successfully received the treatment, the study found that not a single participant experienced a clinical relapse, there were no new active inflammatory brain lesions that could be detected, not a single participant required drugs to control the disease and, crucially, 70 per cent of participants experienced a complete stop in disease progression.
It was the first clinical trial to show the “complete, long-term suppression of all inflammatory activity in people with MS,” says Atkins.
The clinical trial was funded by the MS Society of Canada with a further 15 people receiving the procedure since the initial trial. One patient who received the treatment has had extraordinary results.
Jennifer Molson was 21 in 2002 when she received a stem cell transplant as part of the trial at The Ottawa Hospital. She had been diagnosed with MS six years earlier and the disease had progressed rapidly.
By the time she received the transplant, the formerly active young woman was receiving 24-hour care at The Ottawa Hospital Rehabilitation Centre. She couldn’t feed herself, blow dry her hair, shower or dress without help.
Today, Molson is symptom free, relapse free, skiing, driving, working and living life as if she had never had MS.
The treatment is not for everyone. It comes with risks and some limitations.
When Molson had the transplant, she was told the risk of death was one in 10 (the researchers say it is less than that now due to medical advances). She also knew she would never be able to conceive children. Those were risks she was willing to take, she says, because of the rapid progression of her disease.
A success story like Molson’s will give new hope to MS patients worldwide but unfortunately, the doctors are only in a position to treat Canadian patients at the moment. “We are not in the business of making money. We are in business to help our patients in Canada. Our health care system will not allow us to start taking in patients from around the world.” Says Atkins.
However, similar trials have also took place in recent years in England too giving us hope that we may see the miracle treatment in Ireland shortly.
For more information on living with MS, contact MS Ireland.
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