M.S. patients here hope for access to drug that works

Published: Friday, April 18, 2014 at 9:53 p.m. Last Modified: Friday, April 18, 2014 at 9:53 p.m.

A neurologist, a chiropractor and an orthopedic surgeon all weighed in on Allens symptoms, which included tightness in his right leg and an overall stiffness in his body, but no one could pinpoint the culprit.

Then Allen, of Ormond Beach, came to UF Health Shands Hospital in Gainesville, and after several MRIs and a spinal tap, he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

First came the walking stick, then the wheelchair. That was in 2005, and nearly 10 years later, Buddy, now wheelchair-bound, has gotten progressively worse.

Time is not necessarily my friend, said the 51-year-old. I cant really walk at all.

After Buddys diagnosis, he signed up for Google Alerts on everything regarding MS -- especially treatment information. He shared that information with his doctor, Dr. Daniel Kantor, the director of the Comprehensive Multiple Sclerosis Center at UF Health Shands in Jacksonville.

Dr. Kantor would actually talk to me about each one, Allen said.

And then one drug emerged that got both Allen and Kantor excited. The drug itself was not actually brand-new -- once called Campeth, it was initially used as a cancer drug. But the parent company, Sanofi, repurposed the drug for MS patients, calling it Lemtrada.

Trials of the drug -- on both early-stage MS patients and those who had relapsed -- showed the drugs efficacy. Most patients disability scores were stable or improved, and more than 50 percent of patients were relapse-free, said Kantor, one of the trials lead investigators.

Ive seen people where their MS had been almost melted away by the drug, Kantor said.

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M.S. patients here hope for access to drug that works