Rituxan- Will it be the New MS Drug? Is anyone on it?

[Erin0313]

Has anyone heard of Rituxan? It is currently being used for Rheumatoid Arthritis & Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma but is in clinical trials for treatment in Multiple Sclerosis.
  Most MS treatments target the T cells but this medicine targets the B cells. It is gone from a phase II clinical trial to a phase III study with a lot of promise.
  I am currently on it because I am able to receive it as an RA patient. I was on Copaxone without success. 6 months after my 1st treatment ( which is 2 infusions 2 weeks apart every 6 months) with the Rituxan my MRI's show improvement. The study showed a 91% difference in the control group.
  For more information, type in Rituxan for MS and go to the article on Web MD

[shoshin]

Here are some news articles on Rituxan:

http://www.msrc.co.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=show&pageid=1394

Unfortunately, it failed in a trial with PPMS, but it otherwise seems promising, although they do note that a couple people on Rituxan died of PML, the same brain virus that has killed people on Tysabri.

sho

[young at heart]

RITOXIN WILL BE AVAILABLE IN OUR AREA IN FEBUARY,THE CLINIC TRIALS ARE PROMISING.

MANY IN ARE AREA ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO IT.

T-LYNN

[patientx]

I think in the near future one of the monoclonal antibodies, like Rituxan, will be the best treatment for MS.  Rituxan has shown promising results, as has Campath.

Lulu:

If you do a search of Rituximab (Rituxan is the trade name) at clincaltrials, it shows a phase II trial has already been completed.  I don't think it is in phase III trials yet.  Since it has already been approved for RA, doctors can prescribe it off-label for MS, and many are.

[Lulu54]

That was a very good article - thanks!   I went to clinicaltrials.gov and can't find any testing of it on MS patients at this point. Lots of other conditions but not MS.   I wonder why?