Reported April 1, 2005

http://tinyurl.com/734fh

NEW YORK (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- There is new hope for multiple sclerosis patients. Right now there is no drug targeted to stop the memory loss many patients with MS have. But a drug used for Alzheimer's may help.

There was a time when 56-year-old Jean McNeill loved to read books. But since she began losing her short-term memory, McNeill can barely get through a few-page newsletter.

"It started out with just small things -- not remembering what somebody told me," she says. She also has multiple sclerosis, a disease where her body attacks her central nervous system and her brain. She used to have seizures, but medication has stopped them. There is no drug, however, to combat her memory loss.

McNeill's doctor hopes that will change with the drug donepezil, normally used for Alzheimer's patients. Neurologist Lauren Krupp, M.D., conducted a study on MS patients with mild memory problems. Those taking the drug improved on memory tests by 14 percent.

"The kinds of improvements that were experienced were pretty significant for not all the people but for a sizable number," says Dr. Krupp, of Stony Brook University Hospital in Stony Brook, N.Y.

She says donepezil has minor gastro-intestinal side effects. She is conducting a larger study in hopes of getting the same positive results. "If we do, then I would be the first to get on the stump and start telling doctors that we can do something now to help people with MS," she says.

McNeill says, "I don't know what the future holds -- nobody does -- so if this medication works, I'd be very, very happy to take it." She will take part in the next study and hopes her memory will bounce back to where it was before.

Donepezil is already FDA approved for Alzheimer's disease. Stony Brook University Hospital is looking for MS patients who would like to take part in the study. Neurological centers at Rhode Island Hospital, Rochester Medical Center in New York, and The State University Of New York at Buffalo School of Medicine are also involved in the study.

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.

If you would like more information, please contact:

Pat Melville
Department of Neurology
HSC T12-020
SUNY at Stony Brook
Stony Brook, NY 11794-8121
(631) 444-8164

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