Ask a Neurologist
08.01.2009 - Access to therapy
- Question:
Hello. My name is Jeff. I am in the US, contacting you for a family member in Europe. My wife’s sister, Ortansa, has MS and it is pretty bad. She has had it for about 15 years and I believe that if something good and dramatic does not happen soon, we will lose her. Some 5 years ago or so she started taking Betaferon for a short period of time(less than one year). She stopped as it was difficult to obtain and extremely expensive. There was no insurance to help with this. She then started taking Avonex with less success and poor results. I am contacting you to see how I/we, her husband, can obtain this drug and possibly extend her life a little longer. Please advise me on the possibilities/protocol this. You can email me at this site.
Thank you for your help. Jeff- Reply:
-
If your family member is not responding very well on Interferon Beta treatment (Avonex) once per week, she might want to try again a higher-dosed Beta-Interferon as she did before. However, there is no certainty that this treatment can impact on life expectancy. It depends also on the stage of the disease whether MS progression can be inhibited.
May we ask in which European country your wife`s sister is living? The insurance systems differ between countries, and we could see if there are special programmes in her country.
- Consultant:
- The MS-Gateway Consultation Team