Two experimental pills for multiple sclerosis proved effective in clinical trials, raising the possibility for the first time that oral treatments might become available alongside the more cumbersome injections and infusions used to treat MS today.

Some patients taking the drugs—made by Switzerland's Novartis AG and Germany's Merck KGaA—experienced adverse events that researchers said need to be carefully weighed against the drugs' benefits…

Moses Rodriguez, a neurologist and director of the MS Center at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., said he wasn't particularly impressed by the efficacy data and was concerned about the side effects. In terms of efficacy, "my feeling is, these drugs will be similar to the interferons," he said, with a side-effect profile that is "a lot worse."

Wall Street Journal, by Jeanne Whalen, 1/21/10

Tags: experimental pills, Neurology