Episode 11 - Clinical Guidelines Vital to the Future of MS

Emphasizing the need for clinical guidelines for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS), Leslie Fish, PharmD, explains that national guidelines would be helpful when determining the appropriateness of first-line versus second-line therapy.

Dr Fish believes that national guidelines would provide helpful information about treatment effectiveness, and could define which agents should be recommended as second-line therapy based on their side effects.

Gary M. Owens, MD, recognizes that there is no single preferred agent for the treatment of MS and clinicians have fallen into a poor trend as they commonly recommend the most popular options as first-line treatment.

For this reason, there is hesitancy from insurers and clinicians about utilizing newer oral agents for treatment. Dr Owens believes that this issue needs to be addressed, especially as new agents continue to develop.