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The world's first drug for multiple sclerosis has emerged
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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Experts from Australia have announced that they have developed a drug that will help cure multiple sclerosis. The new drug is called WEHI-345 and, according to scientists, is capable of preventing the progression of the disease in half of cases.
This drug has become a real breakthrough in medicine, since WEHI-345 can help to completely get rid of the disease (there is currently no cure for multiple sclerosis).
After numerous experiments, specialists noted that the drug helps prevent further progression of the disease if you start using it immediately after the first symptoms appear. At the same time, according to the researchers, the drug is suitable both for the treatment of an already progressing disease and for preventive purposes.
The scientific group is going to continue further research of the drug. The specialists intend to refine WEHI-345, as well as its analogues. The studies showed that in 50% of cases after using the new drug, the progression of multiple sclerosis slowed down (or stopped completely).
It is worth noting that multiple sclerosis affects the myelin in the nervous system. Until now, the disease was considered incurable, and there were no effective drugs for it.
The disease causes the destruction of myelin, which is the sheath that surrounds nerve fibers. These fibers are found throughout the central nervous system, and damage to the sheath causes a variety of neurological disorders.
It is common for people to consider sclerosis as a disease of the elderly, a loss of memory associated with senility. However, this disease is autoimmune and has nothing to do with age-related changes and the absent-mindedness observed in the elderly.
Multiple sclerosis is characterized by numerous scars throughout the central nervous system (hence the name – multiple). During the study of the disease, it was found that foci of sclerosis (scars or plaques) are found throughout the central nervous system, without a clear location. With multiple sclerosis, the replacement of natural nervous tissue with connective tissue begins (i.e. scarring). The disease was first described in 1868 by the French psychiatrist Jean-Martin Charcot.
People of young and middle age (16-45 years) are susceptible to the disease. A characteristic feature of the disease is that several parts of the nervous system are affected at once (often different ones), which causes neurological symptoms in patients (impaired swallowing function, gait, balance, speech, vision, tremors, fecal and urinary incontinence, muscle spasms, fatigue, depression, increased sensitivity to heat).
As the disease progresses, plaques ranging in size from 1 mm to several centimeters form at the site of destruction of the myelin sheath; over time, several plaques can merge with each other, forming a large lesion.
In one patient, plaques, both newly formed and “old”, are detected during a special examination.