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Multiple sclerosis patients to benefit from new drug


November 27, 2013

Thanks in part to research by Dr. Mark Freedman and his team, certain multiple sclerosis (MS) patients can now take a simple daily pill to limit disease flare-ups and delay physical disability. Previous first-line therapies were only available as injections, which were difficult (or even impossible) for some patients to manage. Dr. Freedman has worked with Sanofi-Genzyme for more than a decade to conduct clinical trials of the new pill, called teriflunomide, which Health Canada recently approved for treatment of relapsing-remitting MS. Dr. Freedman noted that the approval is “an important advancement for the MS community and may help improve quality of life for people living with this debilitating disease.”

See news release for details.

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The Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) is the research arm of The Ottawa Hospital and is an affiliated institute of the University of Ottawa, closely associated with the university’s Faculties of Medicine and Health Sciences. OHRI includes more than 1,700 scientists, clinical investigators, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and staff conducting research to improve the understanding, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human disease. www.ohri.ca

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Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
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