Global drug company interested in developing breakthrough Australian MS treatment

Trials of a breakthrough Australian MS treatment were up to a decade away but interest from one of the world’s biggest drug companies could fast track its development.

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Exclusive: A breakthrough Australian treatment which could reverse the damage caused by MS could be fast tracked after one of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies expressed interest.

Monash University researcher Dr Steven Petratos this week met with the global pharmaceutical giant and says if the company comes on board clinical trials could begin in three years instead of five to 10 years.

Thousands of Australians with secondary progressive Multiple Sclerosis could be eligible to take part in the clinical trial of the medicine.

News Corp reported earlier this week that Dr Petratos had found the drug DITPA — approved by the US FDA for use in clinical trials to treat a rare disorder called Allan-Herndon-Dudley syndrome (AHDS) — can repair the damaged coating on damaged nerve cells.

MS patient Adrianna Condello says having hope is one of the most positive things you can have with a disease like MS. Picture: Nicole Cleary

Demyelination, or stripping nerve cells of their protective sheath, is a hallmark of MS which causes loss of motor control, muscular spasms, incontinence, weakness, memory loss and problems with thought and planning.

He has modified the drug to reduce side effects and when it was used on a mouse model of multiple sclerosis (MS) it tricked the mouse cells into remyelination and paralysed mice were able to walk again.

It is the first medication not only to stop demyelination but to reverse it.

Dr Petratos told News Corp the interest of a large multinational drug company was exciting.

“They are the ones who can expedite this to the clinical trial phase,” he said.

“With research grants progress can be slow but the barriers are shifted when a drug company gets involved because they have the best development systems in the world, you can employ staff and validate aspects of the drug,” he said.

It could be three years away but the first clinical trial of the drug would involve a handful of patients to make sure the drug was not toxic to humans and did not have significant side effects, he said.

Clinical trials of the Australian treatment could begin in three years with the support of a pharmaceutical company. Picture: Getty

The right dose would need to be found.

Eventually thousands of patients would be placed in a trial with some unknowingly receiving a placebo to test whether the drug worked.

Patients with secondary progressive form of MS who are no longer responding to any treatment would be eligible for the trial Dr Petratos said.

Dr Hamish Campbell, deputy head of research at MS Research Australia, whose organisation helped fund the research said one in five of the 25,000 Australian patients with MS have secondary progressive disease.

Dr Petratos said he needs another $2 million to get the drug ready for clinical trial.

Melbourne mum Adrianna Condello’s three beautiful children are the compelling reason she wants a cure for MS.

The 35-year-old accountant was diagnosed with MS 10 years ago after feeling electric shock like feelings in her feet while working out in the gym.

The problem progressed to affect three quarters of her body and she still has tingling in her hands and feet even though she has responded well to treatment.

MS patient Adrianna Condello with her children, twins Olivia and Leo, aged two, and baby Zoe, aged eight weeks. Picture: Nicole Cleary

“For me, I’ve remained stable and I’m responding well to treatment,” she said.

“I may not always be like this and my symptoms could worsen and I could progress and just to know there is the chance in the future of having this therapy available gives me hope.

“It’s massive, it’s major, it’s life changing and while it’s not a cure, it will repair demyelination and that is just mind blowing to know,” she said.

“Having hope is one of the most positive things you can have with a disease like MS.”

Bonnie Gillies runs a popular beauty website Ozbeauty. She has extended family members and friends with the condition. She took part in MS Research Australia’s Kiss Goodbye to MS. Picture: Supplied

Bonnie Gillies, the editor of the popular beauty website Oz Beauty Expert, is an ambassador for MS Research Australia’s Kiss Goodbye to MS fundraising campaign.

The Sydney mother-of-two got involved because members of her extended family and friends she went to school with developed MS.

“Several years ago I had a scare myself when, with two toddlers, I was showing symptoms but it turned out I didn’t have it,” she said.

While she waited for her test results she gained a first-hand experience of how the condition afflicts young women in the prime of their lives.

“The women it affects have small children and careers, it hits just when they are starting their families and getting married,” she said.

She said the research breakthrough was amazing.

“They have been saying they hope to find a cure in our lifetime and this is amazing, it has given hope for a cure,” she said.

Originally published as Global drug company interested in developing breakthrough Australian MS treatment