The C word….is often mentioned when it comes to MS…but proof-is in the pudding. If MS is an autoimmune condion and you know how to turn the immune system off you can silence autoimmunity…I have done it.
But the isssue is how do you translate it into controling MS, when you don’t really know the precise target. You can take a guess but you only know you get it right, when it works but the danger is it doesn’t work because you didn’t know how to do the test. So far we have lots of similar claims and the ideas have all ended up on the maggot pile. I would argue there are many claims that don’t hold water but we have a a paper entitled
entitled: Assessing the Early Economic Feasibility of a Curative Gene Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis…Healthcare. 2026; 14:674.
This perhaps is a follow on from an earlier upbeat publication “Early-stage health technology assessment of a curative gene therapy for multiple sclerosis” in 2024. Their concluding comments
..”gene therapy shows promising cost-effectiveness at a value-based price up to approximately €500 000, contingent on achieving curative clinical efficacy. These findings inform strategic development and pricing considerations for emerging gene therapies in MS”.
In 2026 they say “….Structural gap between value-based pricing and the pricing required for commercial viability. Without external support or reductions in cost structures, commercial development may be economically unattractive.
I seem to read this as a cry for support.
It is very hard for academics to deliver new treatments and it requires alot of cash. For MS it is hard to do anything unless you have big pharma support…I could look and comment on the biology but I won’t…they are making big claims of the “c”. I would think it is much easier to do this in other conditions than MS.
To do a phase III trial needs big pharma input. It isn’t really ethical to do placebo control led trials in relapsing MS, so you need to buy the comparitor treatment. So say 600 people on a drug costing $100,000 a year for 2 years and so that is $120,000,000 to find before you get your new C to market.
CoI None
Disclaimer. My views
Source: multiple-sclerosis-research.org