Washington, Apr 25 : A new study has found that long-term treatment with Gamunex can significantly improve health-related quality of life in patients with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP).

CIDP is a debilitating nerve disease that results in progressive weakness in the arms and legs, causing significant disability for many individuals.

Gamunex is the first and only FDA-approved product for the treatment of CIDP.

The researchers showed that patients who received Gamunex experienced greater improvements in physical and mental component scores compared with placebo.

"The data provide the rationale for administering maintenance doses of Gamunex every three weeks as a means of improving health-related quality of life and preventing relapse of symptoms," said Dr Ingemar Merkie, Department of Neurology, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam and Spaarne Hospital Hoofddorp, the Netherlands.

"Until now, there has been no FDA-approved dosing regimen for an effective course of intravenous immune globulin therapy to reduce neuromuscular disability and improve quality of life in patients with CIDP.

"Data from this trial provide an effective regimen with Gamunex to achieve improvements," Merkie added.

"The improvement in health-related quality of life, social participation and activity supports the use of Gamunex in patients with CIDP who have responded to it in the past. It validates the benefits of every three week infusions of Gamunex," said Dr. Peter Donofrio, professor of Neurology and Chief, Neuromuscular Section of the Department of Neurology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee.

The study appears in journal Neurology (ANI)