The anticancer drug rituximab thwarts inflammatory nerve damage in the brain and curbs relapses in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), a study suggests.
Rituximab, marketed as Rituxan by Genentech and Biogen Idec, is a synthetic antibody. The drug has anti-inflammatory as well as anticancer effects. In MS patients, immune-orchestrated inflammation damages myelin fatty sleeves that protect nerves.
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