New drug for Multiple Sclerosis in UAE now

Abreakthrough medicine — the first one short-course treatment to help patients with Multiple Sclerosis is now available in the UAE.

The Ministry of Health and Prevention announced the availability of Mavenclad manufactured by the pharmaceutical company Merck, on the occasion of the inauguration of its new regional hub in the UAE.

Mavenclad is a medicine used to treat Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in adults. The new treatment is characterised by 20 days of treatment over two years with sustained efficacy of up to four years.

In this context, Dr Ameen Al Amiri, assistant undersecretary for public health policy and licensing sector at the ministry, highlighted the wise leadership’s commitment to support excellence in the health care sector in general which made the Ministry of Health and Prevention pay great attention to Multiple Sclerosis in particular and to patients living with this disease.

Multiple Sclerosis is one of the most common neurological disorders in the world. It affects more than 2.3 million people worldwide usually between the ages of 20 and 40, which translates to an average of 30 per 100,000 people, according to the World Health Organisation.

Due to the drug’s novel mechanism of action, Mavenclad(Cladribine tablets) selectively reconstitutes the immune system with minimal impact on the innate immune system functions, making it the only oral short-course therapy to provide up to four years of disease control with a maximum of 20 days of treatment over the first two years.