Personalized therapy in multiple sclerosis: state of art and future perspectives

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory central nervous system disease that causes disabling physical symptoms, involving different functional domains. Because MS can be unpredictable, devising a treatment approach can be challenging. There are no tests that can reliably predict whether a specific medication will work well or poorly for any patient.

Areas covered: In this review we will focus on the recommendations and decisions in MS management, considering how much far we are from a concept of personalized therapy. Personalized medicine is a medical approach that separates patients into different groups with medical decisions, practices, interventions tailored to the individual patient.

Expert commentary: A personalized approach in MS therapy should be based on several factors, including: recent MS activity (in terms of severity and recovery); severity of lesion damage on magnetic resonance imaging; patients’ preferences regarding type of therapy and adverse side effects of the MS drugs.

KEYWORDS:

• Multiple sclerosis
• personalized treatment
• biomarkers
• adverse events
• unmet needs

Declaration of interest

F Patti has served on scientific advisory boards for Teva, Biogen-Idec, Bayer-Schering and Novartis, and has received honoraria as a speaker for Teva, Biogen, Merck Serono, Bayer-Schering, Genzyme/Sanofi and Novartis. E D’Amico has received funding for travel by Teva, Biogen, Merck Serono, Bayer-Schering, Genzyme/Sanofi and Novartis. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Emanuele D’Amico

Emanuele D’Amico contributed to conception and design. He participated in drafting and revising the article. He gave final approval of the version to be submitted and any revised version.

Aurora Zanghì

Aurora Zanghì contributed to conception and design. She participated in drafting and revising the article.

Francesco Patti

Francesco Patti contributed in drafting and revising the article.