A Promising Look at Neurovax, an MS Vaccine

There are a number of medications that are used in the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) but there hasn’t been a vaccine to treat the disease until now. Even though it is still in clinical trials and not available to the public as of yet, this new vaccine is showing a lot of promise. It’s called Neurovax and its goal is not to prevent MS but to treat those people who already have the disease.

Typically, a vaccine means an injectable shot which is used in the prevention of a disease and may come in one or two doses which are necessary to build up immunity. However, with this Neurovax, monthly injections are likely so as to halt or greatly slow down the effects of MS. This vaccine works to modify the effect that the disease has on you and hopefully can halt the progression of the disease or even throw it into full remission.

Defining Neurovax

This vaccine in its clinical trial phase is known as a therapeutic shot. It does not prevent the disease, which makes sense as MS is a rare disease that only a few million people in the entire world have and therefore hard to denote who will get it. Neurovax works to treat the disease that already exists in people but it is not a preventative.

Vaccinations usually work by kick starting certain parts of your immune system so that it learns how to fight off certain germs and infections. Because MS is an autoimmune disease, it is harder to target anything specific because it is your own body causing the problem! Therefore, Neurovax works by guiding your immune system to regulate itself and control the part that is attacking the protective nerve sheath called myelin.

Basically, when you have MS, your own T cells think that the antigens (proteins) in the myelin are foreign invaders and work to attack them. When this occurs, you develop the lesions in your brain and spinal cord area which thereby hinders the nerve signals that control your movements, muscles and more. This resulting inflammation causes fatigue, pain and other symptoms.

The vaccine Neurovax is showing promising results in the clinical trials by communicating with these marauding T cells and giving them the sign to stop the attack. This vaccine is injected into your muscle about once a month for an indefinite period of time. As Neurovax is still in testing, researchers are not quite sure yet how long the vaccine lasts and how long the shots should be taken.

Current News

So far, the Neurovax vaccine is showing promising results but it will be a long while before it could be ready for FDA approval and available in a doctor’s office near you. However, the vaccine offers MS sufferers hope that there are big strides being made in the quest to eradicate MS totally. Meanwhile, there are plenty of medications available that help slow down the progression of the disease allowing you to live a long life.