A new drug AVP-923 is all set to provide relief to people suffering from the dreaded disease of multiple sclerosis, said the researchers from University of Vermont College of Medicine, US.
Multiple sclerosis is a chronic neurological disease of the central nervous system. The disease affects the brain and spinal cord and medication till date had only been able to treat the problem symptomatically. One of the symptoms of this disease is called pseudobulbar affect is often characterized by episodes of laughter and crying in inappropriate situations. The outbursts are often spontaneous and the patients may have very little control over the expressions.The new drug will be helping the patients to control much of their inappropriate emotional outbursts. The patients who were given the drug in the clinical trial had also reported of improvement in their quality of life, interpersonal relationships and physical comfort and pain. One of the side effects of the drug was reported to be spells of dizziness.
This is the first drug designed to specifically treat the condition of pseudobulbar affect in patients with multiple sclerosis. The results of the study was presented at the American Academy of Neurology 57th Annual Meeting, held on April 9-16.
Reference: American Academy of Neurology 57th Annual Meeting, Press Release
