A DRUG that slows down the progress of multiple sclerosis (MS) in some patients is likely to be licensed for sale here shortly, according to the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Ireland.
Beta interferon has already been made available in the United States and a small number of people in this country have been allowed to receive it.
When it is licensed, it will cost up to £10,000 a patient per year, and the MS Society says it hopes the Department of Health will bear the cost.
A leaflet from the society warns that beta interferon is not a cure for MS, nor does it reduce the levels of disability which people have reached before they start taking it.
One form of MS is characterised by remissions and relapses the effect of the drug is to reduce the number of times a patient's condition worsens and to reduce its severity.
Neurologists will usually only prescribe the drug for patients with the remitting relapsing form of the disease. The result of clinical trials on the effects of the drug on people with another form in which there is a progression of the disease without remissions or relapses are expected within a year or two.
The effects and progress of MS vary widely from person to son. Caused by degeneration in the sheath covering nerves in the brain and spin accord it can lead to speech disturbances, difficulties with vision and weakness in the muscles.
Mr Howard Cusack, of the MS Society, told The Irish Times that a great deal of hype had originally surrounded the drug in the United States and that many of the people who originally took the drug had come oft it. However, the drug had succeeded in reducing the number of relapses by one third in tests published in 1993.
Side effects include flu like symptoms and inflammations around the site of injections. Some people have also reported depression he said.
Up to 4,000 people in the Republic and about 1,500 people in Northern Ireland have the disease. About 40 per cent of these have the remitting/relapsing form of MS.
Beta interferon is a naturally occurring biological substance which plays a vital role in the human body's immune system.
When it is licensed it will be prescribed by neurologists and dispensed by hospital pharmacies, said Mr Cusack. Patients will be trained how to inject the drug.
MS Ireland operates a free phone help line at 1800 233 233. The leaflet is available from MS Ireland at 2 Sandymount Green, Dublin 4.