A drug which is currently used to treat adults with multiple sclerosis (MS), has been found to offer major beneficial effects to children and teenagers affected by the condition.

MS is a chronic disease of the central nervous system, which causes a gradual degeneration of the nerves. This results in a progressive deterioration in various functions controlled by the nervous system, such as movement, speech and vision.

Around 9,000 people in Ireland are affected by MS and an estimated 3-5% of these are children. However, there are currently no specifically approved MS-modifying therapies aimed at young people.

"Paediatric MS patients experience more frequent relapses and are more likely to accumulate physical disability at an earlier age than those diagnosed as adults. Current therapies are limited to treatments that have not been tested in a controlled manner in this age group," explained Prof Orla Hardiman, a consultant neurologist at Beaumont Hospital and director of the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute.

However, a new clinical trial has found that the oral disease-modifying therapy, fingolimod, resulted in an 82% reduction in the rate of relapses in patients aged
10-17 years.

MS is almost always described as a relapsing remitting condition. Essentially, this means that symptoms like loss of vision, numbness or weakness of a limb occur for a period of time and then improve, either partially or completely.

For nearly all of those affected, this is the way their MS begins, but because the condition is so unpredictable, people do not know when their relapses will occur.

The significant reduction in the rate of relapses recorded in this trial ‘signify an important step towards a potential new treatment that could improve the lives of these young patients', Prof Hardiman commented.

This phase III clinical trial, known as PARADIGMS, is the first on its kind in paediatric MS. It compared the use of fingolimod with intramuscular interferon beta-1a injections, which are commonly used to treat relapsing-remitting MS.

It involved 215 children with MS aged between 10 and 17, who were living in 25 countries worldwide.

The trial found that young people using fingolimod had a significant reduction in the number of two types of brain lesions, which are associated with increased relapses and disability progression.

Those treated with fingolimod also had significantly less brain shrinkage, which in adults is linked with the loss of physical and cognitive function.

Meanwhile, fingolimod was also found to significantly delay disability progression and produce fewer adverse events compared to the interferon beta-1a injections.

The results of this trial were presented at the 7th Joint European and Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS-ACTRIMS) meeting in Paris, France.

While fingolimod is not currently approved for the treatment of paediatric MS, the drug's manufacturer, Novartis, is working on a submission with health authorities worldwide.