Lottery for MS Drug

* Thank you for your article on multiple sclerosis (Jan. 6), especially appreciated because this was the second article in recent days on this subject. More exposure of what is known is important.

Having a son who has been subjected to the physical damage caused by MS, I have often wondered when MS will receive the appropriate attention in research and other accommodations. As the article stated, they do not even know the cause, even though there has been some research.

The numbers in the article may be misleading if one only glances at the subheading indicating Alison Caldow’s 59,814 waiting list number. As later stated, there are some 350,000 MS patients. If they did not apply, this would signify that the vast number of MS patients must feel that they are too far gone for the Betaseron to be effective for them, and thus they did not try to get in the lottery. We should all be praying that Betaseron leads to the development of other drugs which would be effective for a greater MS population.

DANIEL J. LOVE

Hacienda Heights