New Delhi, June 7: Climate change is likely to have a significant impact on the rise in multiple sclerosis (MS) cases, increasing the need for effective approaches to treatment, according to a report on Friday. Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system, which affects about 2.8 million people worldwide.
The immune system attacks healthy nerve cells in an over reaction, causing them to continuously die. The report by GlobalData, a data and analytics company, aligned with a June 2024 literature review, published in the Lancet Neurology, which revealed that climate change has the potential to intensify MS symptoms. The report anticipates an uptick in the prevalence and disease severity of MS, and the need for newer and more effective approaches to treatment arises.
The main treatments for MS focus on slowing the disease’s progression and are disease modifying therapies (DMTs). The report forecasts that sales for MS DMTs will grow to $30.1 billion by 2030, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.
7 percent during 2020 -30. Climate change related exacerbations of MS will necessitate the development of novel, more effective DMTs as disease flare ups become more frequent with fluctuating temperatures, said Jos Opdenakker, Pharma Analyst at GlobalData. Currently, there are two ongoing Phase III clinical trials in which Novartis’s remibrutinib and Genentech’s fenebrutinib are being evaluated in comparison to the presently available standard of .
