MS pill approval will change lives

MS pill approval will change lives

10:30am Saturday 17th March 2012 in News By Amanda Williams

A revoluntionary pill for MS sufferers that was trialled in Oxford was yesterday given the go-ahead by a government watchdog.

Now Matt Bateman, who says the drug has transformed his life, has urged county health bosses to avoid a postcode lottery and guarantee it will be funded.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) issued new draft guidance recommending fingolimod on the NHS for some patients with a form of MS.

MS affects about 900 Oxfordshire people and is caused by the bodys immune system attacking the brain and spinal cord.

Every time a patient suffers a relapse, it means their immune system is being attacked a sign the disease is progressing towards disability. Most MS sufferers have to undergo twice-weekly injections to stop this progression of the disease.

But the fingolimod pill, which has been trialled at the John Radcliffe, would be a solution for patients who were not seeing any benefit from the injections.

Mr Bateman, 36, from Blackbird Leys in Oxford, started taking the drug in May 2009 as part of a clinical trial in the city.

He discovered he had MS after visiting doctors for what he thought was a trapped nerve in his right side.

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MS pill approval will change lives