What is Lemtrada and why this may be a good choice for some patients?

Lemtrada is a drug that was originally called Alemtuzumab used to treat Leukemia.  It has been around since the 80s.  It was recently re-branded as Lemtrada and is now being used for MS.  The drug company Genzyme was bought out by the french pharma company Sanofi because of this drug. Part of this has to do with the re-brand and $100,000 cost of the treatment itself.  MS drugs are notoriously expensive and this one is no exception.  The criteria for prescription is that you have had to have failed 2 MS therapies already, I qualified on this count by failing Avonex, Tysabri and Tecfidera over the last 11 years.  As with any of these MS drugs the side effects can be a bit unsettling to read about.  Please read about them here.  Why is it worth the risk for Lemtrada?  For me it was because my MS was progressing and I did not like losing my quality of life.  MS is constantly ongoing and it does not stop so not getting any treatment does not seem like a great option. What appealed to me about Lemtrada was how effective it was supposed to be and that the treatment is given over 5 days as an IV infusion.  You then are good for a year and then return the 2nd year for a treatment of 3 infusions over 3 days.  About 80% of patients after this do not have to come back again based on the clinical data, the other 20% come back for a 3rd round of 3 treatments.  No more pills, shots or monthly infusions!  Don't get too excited yet there are a lot of hoops that you will end up jumping through for this drug that I will get into great detail soon.