Robert Fox, MD: The Greatest Need in Progressive Multiple Sclerosis

“Without knowing what's causing it, it's very hard to come up with treatment approaches.”

While new treatment options for progressive multiple sclerosis have recently emerged, there is still much to be learned about the unique pathophysiology of the disease. Associated with an insidious accrual of disability, there is much urgency in the MS community to better understand the disease and identify more targeted treatments.

In an interview with NeurologyLive, Fox explained that the decline in function seen in the disease could be a result of several different factors, but we don’t yet know enough about what goes on inside the brain and spinal cord. Identifying those specific biomarkers has been troublesome, but uncovering those processes could lead to the development of more treatments, as well as ways to monitor disease progression.

Fox stressed the barriers faced in identifying these markers and ultimately developing treatments that target those processes.