MS is a disease with a natural tendency to remit spontaneously, and for which there is no universally effective treatment and no known cause. These factors open the door for an array of unsubstantiated claims of cures. At one time or another, many ineffective and even potentially dangerous therapies have been promoted as treatments for MS. A partial list of these "therapies" includes: injections of snake venom, electrical stimulation of the spinal cord's dorsal column, removal of the thymus gland, breathing pressurized (hyperbaric) oxygen in a special chamber, injections of beef heart and hog pancreas extracts, intravenous or oral calcium orotate (calcium EAP), hysterectomy, removal of dental fillings containing silver or mercury amalgams, and surgical implantation of pig brain into the patient's abdomen. None of these treatments is an effective therapy for MS or any of its symptoms.
Drugs Used to Treat Multiple Sclerosis
Drugs currently available to patients
Steroids
Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)
Prednisone
Prednisolone
Methylprednisolone
Betamethasone
Dexamethasone
Interferons
Beta interferons (Avonex, Betaseron)
Beta interferon (Rebif)--available in Europe
only
Some experimental therapies
Alpha interferon
Cyclosporine (Sandimmune)
Cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan)
Methotrexate
Azathioprine (Imuran)
Linomide (Roquinimex)
Cladribine (Leustatin)
Mitoxantrone
Aminopyridine, derivatives of
Copolymer I (Copaxone)
Rolipram
Interleukin 4 (IL-4)
Retinoids
Total lymphoid irradiation
Monoclonal antibodies
Plasma exchange or plasmapheresis
Bone marrow transplantation
Peptide therapy
Various MS vaccines
Protein antigen feeding
Transforming growth factor beta (TGF)
Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg)
Current as of March 2002
