A few years back Rituxan was used only in the treatment of cancer and rheumatoid arthritis, but recent phase II trials confirmed it as a highly effective treatment for Multiple sclerosis.

The study was sponsored by the drug’s manufacturers, and relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis patients treated with Rituxan showed reduction in the inflammatory brain lesions after just one single course of Rituxan.  The same patients were checked after one year, and half of them were better than they were without the treatment with this drug.

It’s needless to say that this is good news for all relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis patients (relapsing remitting MS is the first degree of progression, which means that the brain and nerve damage is minimal).  Right now, studies are conducted on larger number of MS patients to see how effective this medication is in the treatment of MS.
Rituxan is a revolutionary medicine, because unlike other drugs used in the treatment of MS, it doesn’t target T-cells, but B-cells.  Until now it has been considered that T-cell-mediated inlamation was the reason MS sufferer’s immune system was attacking the nerve fibers of the body. However, instead of targeting T-cells, this drug targets B-cells, which specific immune cells, which according to a study conducted by UCSF researchers are closely related to the brain’s pathways and have a key role in the destruction of myelin – which is the main medical cause of multiple sclerosis.

As already said, the results were more than satisfactory, the test trial using 104 with relapsing remitting MS who were given two infusion of the drug at a distance of two weeks.  However, even if the drug proved to work immediately, there are still treatment-related side effects that arise questions about the long term use of Rituxan.  One of the most dangerous side effects if the rare and fatal PML (progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy) brain infection, however, studies were unable to point out if this is one of the drug’s side effects or if this brain infection is causes as a result of the patient’s MS.  This is one of the reasons this drug has not yet been approved by the FDA to be used in the treatment of multiple sclerosis.

This drug, once tested and approved by the FDA could mean an end to all the unpleasant symptoms caused by multiple sclerosis in people who suffer from relapsing remitting MS. However, as many other drugs used in the treatment of MS, this drug seems to work (at least so far) for those who were recently diagnosed with the disease and severity of damage is quite low. Nevertheless, today researchers work on a faster way of diagnosing this illness, so that in the near future treatment can be started at the first signs of MS increasing the patient’s recovery chances tremendously. For the moment, Rituxan is awaiting its approval by the FDA, and until this will happen, the manufacturers don’t recommend the off-label use.