UVA Offers MS Medication Trial as Part of National Network for Brain Care

The University of Virginia Health System is now part of a national network designed to explore new treatments for neurological diseases.

The first clinical trial UVA is taking part in tests whether one medication for progressive multiple sclerosis will work.

NeuroNEXT, which stands for the Network for Excellence in Neuroscience Clinical Trials, is made up of 28 hospitals across the country. UVA is the only member in the mid-Atlantic region.

Doctors hope they can stay on top of the latest research for promising drugs and devices through this collaboration.

"It's a disease that affects the immune system, where the immune system attacks the brain and spinal cord instead of behaving in a normal fashion," said Dr. Myla Goldman, director of UVA's James Q. Miller Multiple Sclerosis Clinic.

The disease has two typical presentations one is relapsing-remitting where patients have symptoms and they get better and they have symptoms and the other is what we call progressive MS."

Goldman says more testing is needed to help patients whose condition gets worse over time.

She said, "There are no approved therapies for progressive MS, so we're studying a drug in progressive patients, which is a really critical need in patients dealing with multiple sclerosis."

Doctors at UVA currently use a variety of tests to measure the effects of MS including a timed 25-foot walk. Now they are part of a national clinical trial network to determine whether medication for progressive MS is effective.

The NeuroNEXT network is sponsored by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the National Institutes of Health.

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UVA Offers MS Medication Trial as Part of National Network for Brain Care