Over the years, more than one drug has been tried to deliver a cure or to treat the symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis. Several drugs that were initially used in the treatment of other diseases proved to be quite reliable when it comes to the treatment of MS, and most of them are today approved by the FDA.

Multiple sclerosis patients have yet another reason to smile, with the approval of 4-aminopyridine on January 22 2010 by the FDA. Phase III trials for this drug started in 2008, and after it has proven to be successful in the treatment of MS symptoms, the drug is finally available for MS patients.

4-aminopyridine ( 4-AP) proved to improve the motor skills and visual functions of people with MS, besides relieving fatigue.  As it is well known, MS is a progressive illness, and drugs used in some stages are unusable in other stages of the disease. 4-AP proved to be highly effective when used in patients who have the chronic progressive for of multiple sclerosis, temperature sensitive patients, and also patients who have had multiple sclerosis for more than three years.

However, 4-AP is highly toxic to all mammals, including humans in large doses, and the Phase III trials were extended in an attempt to find the right dosages for MS patients before the drug was finally approved by the FDA.  Giving you a hint of this drug’s toxicity, you should know that 4-AP is used agriculturally under the brand name Avitrol, and it’s sold as a highly potent bird poison.

Nevertheless, the dosages have been established and should now be exceeded under any circumstances during the period one takes this drug. The drug also has side effects which include nausea, nervousness, and dizziness. However, the incidence of the drug’s side effects was reported to be less than 5% in all the studies.

The compound works as a potassium channel blocker. As it is already  known, MS is caused by the demyelination of the axons, which leads to poor nervous signals sent throughout the body. What 4-AP does by blocking the potassium channels is the improvement of the transmission of nerve impulses in the damaged axons. This doesn’t mean that 4-AP replaces the damaged myelin; however, this sooths most of MS symptoms, and it has shown a great potential to improve  disabling symptoms like paraesthesia.

The response rate of patients in clinical trials was between 29.5% and 80%, and long term studies reported that patients who were responsive to  the initial 4-AP cure, exhibit long-term benefits in 80%- 90%  of the cases. Even if there is an improvement in the experienced symptoms, 4-AP does not, however, inhibit the disease’s progression.

Even if 4-AP is not a cure for MS, it proves to be a drug that can greatly improve MS sufferers’ quality of life, which is the next best thing.