Treatment options

Although Multiple Sclerosis (MS) still has no cure, effective drug-based treatments do exist. The drugs used in treating MS can be divided into three groups: 

• Drugs that alter the course of the disease  by relieving the effects on disordered immune processes. Immunomodulatory and immunosuppressive drugs fall into this category and are known as Disease-Modifying Drugs. These act by reducing the immune system cell activity responsible for the body attacking the central nervous system;     
• Drugs that treat an acute attack alleviate symptoms but neither change the mechanisms behind MS nor the course of the disease; these drugs are usually referred to as corticosteroids, which are a form of steroids; and   
• Drugs that treat specific symptoms.  This is known as symptomatic therapy.