Sanofi India Limited

Neurology

Multiple sclerosis

More than two million people worldwide are affected by MS, a neurological disease with unpredictable symptoms that include vision problems, challenges with cognition, and difficulty with physical activity. Caused by an immune attack on healthy tissues in the brain and spinal cord, the disease can worsen over time in some patients. MS can cause lesions in the brain, some of which can shrink over time while other, "smoldering" lesions can remain unchanged or expand.

How Multiple Sclerosis Affects the Brain

Sanofi R&D teams aim to address MS progression by investigating multiple sources of MS damage in the brain. For example, Sanofi is studying a small molecule that inhibits Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK), an enzyme found in immune cells involved in MS. The aim is to create a therapeutic that could potentially act on both peripheral immune cells (e.g., B-cells) and immune cells in the brain (e.g., microglia) that are involved in inflammation and degeneration of the central nervous system. The clinical significance of this BTK inhibitor's activity is unknown and is currently under investigation at Sanofi.