Researchers report in a new study that relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patients treated with COPAXONE, a glatiramer acetate injection, exhibited potential remyelination and axonal tissue repair through increased magnetization transfer ratio (MTR). The study was conducted at the Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center (BNAC), Jacobs Neurological Institute at the University of Buffalo, headquartered in Buffalo, NY.

During the 12-month study, researchers say they used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology to classify and chart the evolution of multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions found in RRMS patients. The study encompassed 40 participants with one or more contrast enhancing lesions (CELs). The patients reportedly had never been treated with COPAXONE. The patients ranged from aged 18 years to 65 years, with disease durations from 6 months to 30 years.

According to researchers, 115 CELs were detected in the study’s participants. The participants received monotherapy with COPAXONE everyday beginning at the baseline visit for 12 months. Researchers say they assessed patients at baseline and after 12 months, using clinical examinations and detailed conventional and unconventional MRI protocols, including magnetization transfer imaging (MIT). After 12 months, results indicated that after treatment, the number of CELs in the RRMS patients had decreased to 21.

Robert Zivadinov, MD, PhD, director of BNAC, professor of neurology at the University of Buffalo, led the study. Zivadinov says the study’s results suggest that the COPAXONE treatment exhibited a measurable amount of tissue repair in the patients. “The observed increases in MTR point to a potential for remyelination. Overall, these findings contribute to the vast body of research that supports the long-term efficacy and safety of the therapy,” Zivadinov says.

The study’s findings were recently published in Frontier in Bioscience and suggest that MRT may be a key tool in future studies to monitor lesion evolution and the progression of MS.

COPAXONE is marketed by Teva Neuroscience Inc, headquartered in Kansas City, Mo, a subsidiary of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd in Tikva, Israel.

Source: Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd