A changing treatment landscape for multiple sclerosis: challenges and opportunities

Abstract

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is primarily an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system, but also encompasses prominent neurodegenerative aspects. A significant proportion of MS patients will develop neurological disability over time and up until recently treatment options have been limited. However, MS treatment is now at a stage of rapid progress, with several new drugs that have reached the market or will be launched in the near future. This provides new opportunities for individualized treatment, but also creates new challenges regarding monitoring of disease activity, long-term safety issues and efficacy, not least in patients with progressive disease.

Keywords: biological therapies; immunomodulatory therapy; multiple sclerosis; randomized controlled trial.