[Natalizumab: a new way for MS treatment]

Because multiple sclerosis (MS) mostly affects young working-age adults, the search for new effective disease-modifying drugs is extremely important. All the first line MS therapies approved in Russia are injectable medications for continuous subcutaneous or intramuscular self-administration once weekly or once daily. This fact is often a reason for a patient to refuse the treatment. Also it can result in specific side-effects. Natalizumab (Tysabri) is the first of a new class of drugs, alpha4-integrin antagonists, approved in the USA and EU for the treatment of active RRMS. It has shown a significant influence on clinical and MRI-activity of the disease. Natalizumab monotherapy leads to significant decrease in annualized relapse rate, disability progression risk and lesion load. This article reviews recent publications on the mechanism of action, effectiveness and safety of natalizumab, a new promising drug for MS therapy.