Alemtuzumab

When the CAMMS 223 trial was formally reported in the New England Journal of Medicine in October of 2008, huge interest was generated in the media, among people with multiple sclerosis (MS) and their relatives and friends. The suggestion that a therapy Campath-1H (now known as alemtuzumab) was available which surpassed the effectiveness of current standard treatments, provided by infusions given at yearly intervals or even less frequently and which appeared to reduce the accumulation of disability was hailed in the lay press as virtually a 'cure'. The paper in this edition of the journal (Spotlight on Alemtuzumab, page 77) provides a more realistic account of alemtuzumab, describing the Cambridge experience, tracking the history of Campath-1H, one of the oldest humanized monoclonal antibodies, from its origin in the laboratory to its future licensing in the clinical management of people with MS.