If natalizumab is so effective, why isn everyone with MS offered it?
Natalizumab is a drug which carries medical risk and financial cost. Natalizumab is associated with potentially life threatening opportunistic infections. Even though the risk is small, it is therefore offered only to patients who are likely to benefit the most: those with the most active disease. In addition, the cost of natalizumab is so high that it only meets the NICE threshold for NHS funding for patients with highly active disease, shown by 2 or more relapses in one year and disease activity shown on an MRI scan..
