4-Aminopyridine (Fampridine) : A new attempt for the symptomatic treatment of multiple sclerosis

Mobility limitation is a frequent clinical symptom of multiple sclerosis (MS) that poses a therapeutic challenge. For years results of animal experiments and clinical experience have indicated that the potassium channel blocker 4-aminopyridine improves axonal excitatory circuits and thus muscular strength in demyelinating diseases. A recently conducted randomized, placebo-controlled, multicenter phase 3 clinical trial in MS patients was able to show that an oral sustained-release formulation of 4-aminopyridine (Fampridine-SR) represents a suitable agent for treatment of walking disability in MS patients. This overview presents the study data and discusses the value of 4-aminopyridine for the symptomatic treatment of MS as a neurofunctional modifier of this disabling disease. © 2010 Springer Medizin Verlag.