Although doctors have long recognized this temporary protective effect, it was neurologist Rhonda Voskuhl who focused on a possible reason: estriol, a form of the female hormone estrogen that is sold as a generic drug. Estriol is made by the placenta and normally surges only during pregnancy.
In a quest to get estriol approved as a therapy for women with MS, Voskuhl is leading a $5.6 million clinical trial at 16 medical centers, including the University of Pennsylvania - where Freney recently became a participant.
If this sounds like a poignant success story, it isn't. As Voskuhl has learned the hard way, generic drugs lack the one thing that drives the costly business of drug development - the prospect of hefty profits. Even if the current trial is successful, getting estriol approved will take many more millions of dollars (money the researcher doesn't yet have) and at least another decade.
Voskuhl, director of the MS program at the University of California Los Angeles, initially thought estriol was a can't-lose proposition. After all, MS strikes three times as many women as men - 300,000 in the United States alone. Unlike the seven brand-name MS medications on the market, estriol comes in a capsule rather than injections or intravenous infusions. It has no notable side effects. And as a generic drug, it's inexpensive.
"The science is great, the idea is great," said Voskuhl, a speed-talker with a faint Oklahoma twang. "I had no idea it would be this hard."
After more than a decade working to bring estriol to patients, Voskuhl, 49, tries to keep her frustration in perspective.
"It's really not so bad for me to go from young to old," she said, "but it's pretty bad to see them go from walking to wheelchairs."
A pregnant pause
