brain atrophy. We haven’t shown that it slows clinical progression.”
Longer-term studies are needed to prove that. For now, Fox stressed, “this drug is not available in the U.S., and it will be some time before it is.”
Bruce Bebo is executive vice president of research for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society — which partly funded the trial.
Bebo called the findings a “milestone,” but cautioned that the drug will have to show benefits against the disease’s course and not only brain shrinkage.
“Those clinical benefits take a longer time to measure,” he said. For patients and families, though, this is one more positive step against progressive MS, he added.
“This is one of a number of trials testing new therapies for progressive MS,” Bebo said. “It’s only a matter of time before we’ll have more and better treatments.”
Ibudilast did have side effects: 92 percent of patients in the trial reported “adverse events,” though 88 percent of placebo patients did, too. Headaches and gastrointestinal symptoms — like abdominal pain and nausea — were the main problems tied to the drug.
In addition, 9 percent of ibudilast patients developed depression, compared to 3 percent of placebo patients.
Fox said, “That’s something we’ll want to