Tecfidera vs Fumaderm

[mataribot]

Hello and welcome! I just want give a note about Stelara and MS. Stelara is a anti TNF variant and there is a chance it make MS worse. However the drug itself did enter a trial for treating MS - not sure results. Honestly DMF is a good drug and good place to start for both conditions.

[Caroline]

Hi and Welcome!

From the National Multiple Sclerosis Society webpage:

"Tecfidera® is an oral therapy contained in capsules taken two times per day. Tecfidera, formerly known as BG-12, is dimethyl fumarate, a formulation that was developed specifically for use by people with multiple sclerosis. A chemically related compound, called Fumaderm (dimethyl fumarate and fumaric acid esters), has been used at higher doses for decades in Germany to treat acute flare-ups of psoriasis."


So it looks like Fumaderm may be prescribed at higher doses than Tecfidera?  Hopefully the Tecfidera will work for both and your doctor will find the right dosage for you.

Happy to see you here  

Friends !!!!

Let take a step back.
Let us not step into the marketing stuff of pharma. What we are facing is marketing blablamab (the spelling checker just did an invention), things are being said that are already known for thirty years, there is no new invention it is just positioning and doing some research on different groups of MS sufferers.


Fumaderm, Tecfidera, Psorinovo, Bill's DMF, they are all the same !!!!!
The working substance is and stays DMF. Concerning the working there is no difference, if Fumaderm works for you, all of the others will work also and vice versa.

The real differences are small and are there because of the fact that pure DMF is difficult for your stomach and intestines.

• That is why Bill is always careful with eating and the moment of taking the dosage, but his is extremely cheap.
  
• Fumadem has additives to get it through the stomach without much problems. These additives limit the max dosage to 6x120mg. It has a careful build up scheme. Price range is close to psorinovo.
  
• Tecfidera is no specific "invention" they only say so but its just DMF. It is enteric coated  so goes first through the stomach and is created in such a way that it releases slowly in the intestines. Because of the slower release there is probably no limit to the dosage. Seems to have a quick build up scheme. It is positioned for MS, therefore very expensive.
  
• Psorinovo is the oldie, but in its oldness quite advanced, it is enteric coated slow release so passes the stomach and releases slowly. Therefore there is no upper limit in the dosage. It has a careful build up scheme.
  Price range is close to Fumaderm which is about 40x cheaper than the MS medication.
  

What we see from above is four approaches with all the same 70% chance of success. This also holds for jmcarlo.
There are  quite some pricing differences, that is obvious. But if the insurance pays and it works for you, then you probably will think "why not?".

We see another difference, that is the build up scheme. Tecfidera is much faster then the others.
Personally I am not standing behind that approach. It is shooting with a cannon on a mosquito.
The idea of a slow build up has a reason, this reason is that we have to stay checking the blood values, as DMF can in the beginning influence the lymphocyte count.
So a warning for jmcarlo, please have it kept a good eye on.
Also going slow means that you can better feel when it starts to work. It takes time.

Suggestive example for the last observation.
In the 30 year life of Psorinovo there was one case of PML, which is not due to the medication, but due to the lymphocite count. They did not follow the protocol, so the count fell too far down.
Even before Tecfidera hit the market they were bragging against the market that they didn't have PML cases compared to Psorinovo (this is all documented officially in medical publications). Now they are on the market for about a year I think, and they already have a PML case.
That points to only one thing as it cannot be the DMF, it must be the protocol that is not followed, and that is very well possible as the build up scheme is so fast.

What they are lacking is the experience of years that is behind Fumaderm and Psorinovo.

About also using Stelara. I should first wait. There is a reasonable chance it will not be necessary.

[jiml]

Well put Caroline you have summed it up very well

[jmcarlo83]

Caroline, thank you. You arr so knowledgeable! I greatky appreciate your words and i will be sure to have the dr monitor me very closely. There is hope after all to be rid of this disfiguring disease. Thank you again

[Caroline]

Caroline, thank you. You arr so knowledgeable! I greatky appreciate your words and i will be sure to have the dr monitor me very closely. There is hope after all to be rid of this disfiguring disease. Thank you again

Thanks for your kind words.
If you would keep us over here updated on your progress we will greatly appreciate that !
I wish you very much success with the treatment.

[jmcarlo83]

Absolutely, i plan to post it everywhere so others in my situatio will be able to know there is hope. Thank yoy to everyone that took time to comment it means alot

[Kat]

Caroline, you sum it up so well

Sorry, I didn't really explain my post. Since it will be used to treat MS (and sounds like it should also treat the psoriasis) then I was quoting only to show that different dosages are used for different things. The dosage of course is for the doctor (and patient) to figure out.

I look forward to hearing updates on how it's working for you jmcarlo!

[Bill]

Hi jmcarlo,

From memory the DMF dosage for ms is 240 mg twice daily. DMF dosages for psoriasis are generally higher, so if you were taking DMF for psoriasis it would probably be effective against your ms. I am getting good results from the raw stuff, and I think my approach of taking the drug with plenty of food (sans bananas) ameliorates the gastric side effects as much if not more than the pharmaceutical formulations.

Good luck, though. Hopefully you will tolerate the drug well and find it effective.

Cheers,

Bill

[jmcarlo83]

Thank you Bill. Do you have both ms and psoriasis? I believe to dose for this medication afyer the first week is 2tablet 240 mg which im sure means 120 ea pill. I will take this 2 times a day. What is the dose for psoriasis? I am going on monday for blood work and then pending insurance should be able to start sometime after that. I am looking forward to it a little nervous about the flushing and gastric side effects, bit ill take anything to feel comfortable in my own skin again

[Caroline]

Thank you Bill. Do you have both ms and psoriasis?  I believe to dose for this medication afyer the first week is 2tablet 240 mg which im sure means 120 ea pill. I will take this 2 times a day. What is the dose for psoriasis? I am going on monday for blood work and then pending insurance should be able to start sometime after that. I am looking forward to it a little nervous about the flushing and gastric side effects, bit ill take anything to feel comfortable in my own skin again

Hello jmcarlo,
Lets wait for Bill to answer himself.

About the other side effects, the flushes are no big deal, they are even a bit funny. You will surely get them starting with this high dose.
The gastric side effects are unpredictable. Tecfidera is close to Psorinovo, which means that the release of DMf will go spreaded in time, that is an advantage and reduces the side effects.

One request, I hope you don't mind, can you write a bit more elaborate? I am a non native English speaker and I really have a job reading your posts

Caroline