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DG Dispatch - AAN: MRI Scan Shows Fewer Brain Lesions In MS Patients Taking Copaxone By Cameron Johnston Special to DG News TORONTO, ON -- April 23, 1999 -- The drug Copaxone (glatiramer acetate) has been found to reduce the number of new brain lesions in patients with remitting relapsing multiple sclerosis. Subjects in the multi-center study were given magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans monthly over a nine-month period. Those who were taking Copaxone showed 35 percent fewer lesions in the brain. Such lesions are markers for disease progression. In addition, patients taking Copaxone had significantly fewer relapses over the course of the study and nine months following the study and markedly smaller volume new lesions. Most attacks of remitting relapsing MS -- which accounts for approximately 40 per cent of all cases of the disease -- will last from a few weeks to a few months, said Dr. Luanne Metz, a neurologist at the University of Calgary and lead North American investigator on the study. The fact that MRI scans revealed a reduction in number and size of lesions is important, she said, because the number of lesions and the rate at which they develop are strong indicators that the patient is about to relapse. Moreover, the disease itself is relapsing and remitting in the brain even without causing clinical symptoms. "We know if they are able to go without activity for a while, we are able to say that they are stable, but we can’t really say for how long," Dr. Metz said. "In this trial we only studied people who already had an active lesion at a screening MRI, so we knew that they were more likely to have an active scan so we could get a good picture of the benefit of the drug." MRI studies looking at the active lesions in patients with MS have never been done while patients were taking other drugs to treat their MS, she added. E-mail this page to a friend or colleague! To print, use this version