anti-LINGO-1 Lives??? Well, kinda, sorta, maybe

[Marco]

Anti-LINGO lives, just not for me.

MS is listed as a chronic, progressive disease, but what if the damage could be reversed?
Anti-LINGO, opicinumab, is a MS drug in development that could potentially repair myelin tissue damage fostering disability reversal, or recovery.

I have been following the drug for a number if years and hoped I could start taking it near year 2020. Earlier this year, the drug reportedly "failed" during Phase II testing.

After more careful scrutiny the drug failed for patients with a longer diagnosis period, more accumulated damage or had transitioned into a second disease state.

For newer patients, the drug performed much better. This isn't a surprise because all of our treatments have the same therapeutic trend lines.


The THRILLING news is the drug still might make it to market for many patients. The pffft news is I would not be a candidate. The exciting news is science continues to war against MS and battles are being won.

http://www.barrons.com/articles/BL-SWB-44728

[jreagan70]

For newer patients, the drug performed much better.

That's not surprising, and it's not encouraging, either. Younger patients and those in the earlier stages of MS remyelinate better on their own than do older patients and those in later stages of MS.

A major theory is that recoveries tend to be faster and more complete in RRMS in the early "faster/better remyelinating" years, and that secondary progressive develops when bodies lose their ability to remyelinate and recover with time and age.

So it isn't surprising that the effects of Anti-LINGO-1 (opicinumab) are better in conjunction with a body that's doing a lot of the recovery on its own anyway. The other thing that won't be surprising is that, in a body that isn't doing as much remyelinating on its own in older/later stages, the small effect of Anti-LINGO won't be enough to make any difference, and it will end up failing to help, just as it failed to help in the general group of test subjects in the clinical trial.

20 year olds who drink soda can run faster than 70 year olds who drink soda. It isn't the soda that makes the 20 year olds faster, and it many not be Anti-LINGO that makes younger people remyelinate better than older people.

The "success" of Anti-LINGO in younger patients may be only an illusion. Even if it isn't, the clinical trials have already shown that its effectiveness is lost when bodies get older and lose their inherent ability to remyelinate. So it remains to be seen how marketable and useful it will be during that perceived window of opportunity.

[ru4cats]

Jreagan70,

So am I correct in saying that those on Anti-Lingo 1 regress (or go back to the mean) when they get older? Anti-lingo was mentioned by me neurologist at my last appointment.