Oral drugs for Multiple Sclerosis

Have you seen the press on the two oral drugs in testing for Multiple Sclerosis? There may be more but there are two oral drugs that have come to my attention over the last week. This is interesting to me in my fight against multiple sclerosis because:

- I hate shots
- I am going to participate in an oral drug therapy test
- I have a dear friend, who like many others, simply refuses to take shots as they are painful and she is just not sure about their effectiveness in Multiple Sclerosis as the results are moderately promising (however this is the only thing we have)

I am so excited that multiple companies are coming up with oral alternatives to the drugs available for Multiple Sclerosis. The two oral drugs that I have heard of recently are from Serono and Merck. They are daily drugs that work differently than current shot therapy for Multiple Sclerosis. The drug trials (both are in Phase 3, I believe) should help unveil any side effects or complications with these drugs. It is also not known when these drugs will be available -- possibly 2-3 years. However, the drug companies are looking at how they can treat all forms of Multiple Sclerosis and not just relapse remitting.

My personal hope is that the drugs will be available before 2-3 years. I can not endure one more shot than I need to -- however, I have been on either Copaxone or Rebif for two and a half years. I am going to be in a drug trial for one of the oral drugs soon so I will be off the shots for a while. This makes dealings with Mutiple Sclerosis just a little bit easier.