Siponimod has been approved on the NHS as the first-ever oral treatment for people living with active secondary progressive MS in England and Wales.
A new treatment for secondary progressive MS
Siponimod, which is taken as a daily tablet, is the first new treatment for secondary progressive MS in over a decade. The only other available treatment for active secondary progressive MS is injected, and siponimod has been shown to be more effective at reducing relapses and delaying cognitive impairment.
The drug has been found to reduce the risk of disability progression by 37% compared with a placebo (dummy drug) and could help thousands of people take control of their MS.
When siponimod was initially rejected by NICE in England and Wales in June, the MS Society asked people with MS to tell them how the drug could make a difference. The stories really helped them to urge NICE to look again at the evidence.
Who can be prescribed siponimod?
Siponimod will be available to adults with secondary progressive MS with active disease. This means those who are experiencing relapses or have evidence of inflammation on MRI scans.
It normally takes a few months for treatments to become available on the NHS. The MS Society recommends that you should speak to your doctor if you think you could benefit from siponimod.
Source: MS Society, https://www.mssociety.org.uk/what-we-do/news/siponimod-approved-for-acti…