MSActiveSource

Copaxone

Copaxone (glatiramer acetate)
Copaxone contains the active ingredient glatiramer acetate, a protein which resembles the protective sheath surrounding nerves (called myelin).

Copaxone is used to treat people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) who are able to walk and who have had at least two relapses (attacks) in the past 2 years. Copaxone helps to reduce the number and severity of the relapses that you have.

Copaxone can also be used in patients with clinically isolated syndrome (CIS). CIS is an individual's first episode of neurological symptoms lasting at least 24 hours and can be an indicator of what may turn out to be MS. For more information about the course of MS go to Types of MS.

How Copaxone works
In MS, your body’s defence (immune) system attacks its own myelin – the ‘insulation’ that surrounds nerve fibres. When myelin is damaged, the messages between the brain and other parts of the body are disrupted. This is what causes the symptoms of MS. Copaxone is thought to work by reducing inflammation around nerve cells, but the exact way it works is not fully understood.

How is Copaxone taken?
Copaxone is injected under the skin (subcutaneous) once a day. The daily dose of 20 mg of Copaxone is contained in a 1 ml injection (about one fifth of a teaspoon in volume).

You can inject Copaxone yourself at home, without the help of a healthcare professional.

More detailed prescribing information on Copaxone can be found by going to www.medicines.org.uk. Typing Copaxone in the search box and pressing Go will bring you to a patient information leaflet on Copaxone.

Your neurologist will prescribe Copaxone according to guidance in the Risk-sharing scheme. The Risk-sharing Scheme, which was set up in 2001 by the Department of Health, makes sure that DMTs are available to people with MS on the NHS.

Licensed for the treatment of MS in 2002, Copaxone is marketed by Teva Pharmaceuticals Ltd.