MSActiveSource

Rebif

Rebif (interferon beta-1a)
Rebif contains the active ingredient interferon beta-1a. Interferons are natural proteins made in your body which help protect you from infections and diseases.

Rebif is used to treat people with relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS) who have had at least two relapses (attacks) in the past 2 years. Rebif helps to reduce the number and severity of the relapses that you have and slows the course of the condition.

For more information about the course of MS go to 'Types of MS'.

How Rebif 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. Rebif is thought to work by stopping your body’s immune system from attacking the myelin.

How is Rebif taken?
Rebif is injected under the skin (subcutaneously) three times a week. The recommended dose of Rebif is 44 µg, although you may be started on a lower dose, increasing to the full dose over the first few weeks of therapy.

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

Your neurologist will prescribe Rebif 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 1998, Rebif is marketed by Merck Serono Europe Limited.