Study proves efficacy of MS therapy

A study from the Department of Neuroimmunology and MS Research at the University of Zurich and the Department of Medical Oncology and Hematology Clinic at the University Hospital Zurich has for the first time been able to explain why blood stem cell transplantation is so successful against multiple sclerosis: 80 percent of patients are disease-free for many years or permanently after treatment.

In spite of this, only a few transplant centers in the world have received approval for this therapy as there is a lack of phase III studies on this. Roland Martin, a recently retired professor, last author of the study, and Head of the UZH department, commented in a press release: “Phase III studies cost several hundred million euros, and pharmaceutical companies are only willing to conduct them if they will make money afterward.” This is not the case for stem cell therapy, as the drugs used are no longer protected by patent. He adds: “I am therefore very pleased that we have succeeded in obtaining approval for the treatment from the Federal Office of Public Health and that health insurers are covering the costs.”

This also enabled 27 patients with MS who received stem cell therapy in Zurich to participate in studies. The UZH states that, surprisingly, the memory T cells reappeared immediately after transplantation as remnants of the old immune system that remember the pathogens and rapidly react to them. They study was also able to show that the thymus gland “teaches” them to differentiate between foreign structures and those of the body itself.