Are DMDs a Good Choice in the Early Treatment of CIS and MS?

About 2.5 million individuals worldwide are currently being affected by MS [1]. In Europe, mean annual cost per person with MS is estimated to be around €27,000 [2]. In the European Union, the estimated costs of MS are calculated to be at €9 billion per year [3]. In a survey among patients receiving Disease Modifying Drugs (DMD) in the United States in 2004, total average costs per patient were estimated as high as US$47,000 per year. Of these costs, 63% were direct costs, including 34% of total costs (US$16,000) for DMD [4]. Rotstein et al describe that prescriptions of the 4 DMDs used in MS (3 Beta Interferons and Glatiramer Acetate (GA)) increased by 50% over five years. Their cost jumped from 15 to 28 million dollars per year from 2001 to 2007 in Canada [5]. Therefore, the answer to the question posed here is probably worth a few Billion dollars.