Clinical Trials

Abstract

Multiple sclerosis is a heterogeneous disorder. One group of patients has repeated relapses, followed in some by progressions others are progressive from the onset. Both the relapse rate and progression of the disease alters in a non-linear way with time. For these reasons it is not possible to assess the effect of any putative therapy without an adequate control group of patients. Ideally a study of therapy should involve a large population randomly assigned to the test and placebo groups. In addition, if possible, the trial should be double blind to avoid the substantial placebo response known to occur during trials of multiple sclerosis therapy.