Currently five therapies are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of MS. These agents can reduce future disease activity for many individuals with relapsing forms of MS, including those with secondary progressive disease who continue to have relapses. The National MS Society’s Medical Advisory Board recommends that initiating MS therapy with an immunomodulating drug (such as FDA-approved interferons or glatiramer acetate) should be considered as soon as possible following a definite diagnosis of MS with a relapsing course, and for selected patients with a first attack who are at high risk for MS. Some clinicians disagree, however, choosing to defer treatment until the extent of disease activity is more clearly established.

The Debate: E. M. Frohman, MD, PhD (University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas) and an international panel of coauthors present their arguments in favor of early treatment in an article titled, “Most Patients with Multiple Sclerosis or a Clinically Isolated Demyelinating Syndrome Should Be Treated at the Time of Diagnosis” (Archive of Neurology 2006;63:614-619).

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Details of the US National MS Society’s Disease Management Consensus Statement recommending early treatment are available at the link below.