Led by Monash University and published in the Medical Journal of Australia, the recommendations address the unique challenges faced by some 39,000 people living with this chronic neurological condition.

Senior author Associate Professor Mastura Monif, a neurologist and researcher from the Monash University School of Translational Medicine and head of Alfred Health’s Neuroimmunology Service, said although Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) adopted an international MS guideline in 2009 (which was last updated in 2015), specific and recent consensus recommendations were needed to guide best practice on locally available therapies and local practices.

“New disease-modifying therapies are more effective and better tolerated,” says Associate Professor Monif.

“But it’s a much more complex treatment landscape than it was 20 years ago, and there is new evidence being generated all the time on many aspects of the disease.

“It is really important that the approach used is focused on both the effectiveness and safety for the individual so they can get the best possible outcome.”

Developed by more than 30 experts from the Australian and New Zealand Association of Neurologists working group — including MS specialists, nurses, allied health professionals, and patient advocacy groups — the statement covers pre-assessment, therapy selection, monitoring, symptom management, and special considerations such as pregnancy and infections.

MS Australia CEO Rohan Greenland welcomes the guidelines as an “invaluable resource, especially for generalist clinicians navigating this rapidly evolving field”.

“They provide a clear and ready reference to best-practice evidence and expert consensus – an important milestone in MS care in Australia,” he says.

First author Dr Jessica Shipley, an MS and Neuroimmunology fellow at Alfred Health, says the recommendations are for everyone involved in managing MS, regardless of healthcare setting or location.

“These recommendations will be a valuable resource for everyone from GPs,  to neurologists, doctors in training, medical students, allied health professionals, nursing staff, and consumers or patients,” says Dr Shipley.

The recommendations can be found here:

• Part 1: Consensus recommendations on MS management in Australia and New Zealand.
• Part 2: Consensus recommendations ons MS management in Australia and New Zealand.

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According to MS Australia, the number of Australians with MS rose by 30% from 2017-2021 making it more important than ever to increase awareness and funding for research into treatments and possibly a cure.

“We have advanced MS care enormously in the last 10 years. The biggest area of need is treatments for progressive MS,” says Professor Helmut Butzkueven, Monash University Central Clinical School Department of Neuroscience Head, MSBase Foundation Managing Director, and Alfred Health Director of Neurology.

“We need to unlock the huge basic research efforts in the last 10 years and turn them into new treatment trials to stop and reverse MS disability.

“To open up the trials, we need better ways of measuring MS. We need to create the right infrastructure so all people with MS who can and want to work together on this challenge are enabled and free to do so, no matter where in Australia they live.”

Associate Professor Mastura Monif, Neurologist (Alfred Health) and Monash Department of Neuroscience Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Neuroimmunology, Neuroinflammation and Neurological Diseases Group, says “MS can vary from individual to individual” with the “majority of those with MS have a relapsing-remitting type of disease”.

“This is associated with acute worsening of neurological symptoms – disease flare-ups. Currently, we do not have very accurate biomarkers to distinguish MS flare-up from remission and our team’s research focuses on that,” says Associate Professor Monif.

“We are aiming to identify markers in the blood of patients with MS during relapse that would help us distinguish relapse from remission.

“These markers once identified can assist with disease diagnosis as well as improve our knowledge for future development of targeted therapies to combat MS relapse effectively and safely.

“MS can be challenging, and some days can be harder than others for those affected by this condition.

“For us clinicians, it’s important to provide comprehensive and holistic care and to remember that MS impacts can be wide-reaching for the individual, their caregivers and the whole community.

“Our team’s research and clinical work is inspired by those affected by MS.

“Our patients with MS are the reason we work so hard to not only improve clinical care but also research in MS. Our utmost aims are to reduce the burden of disease for those affected by this condition by improving current knowledge and treatments.”

For more about World MS Day, visit: worldmsday.org.

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