Copaxone

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Copaxone, chemical name glatiramer acetate.

"Copaxone is the commercial name of an FDA approved drug for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. It consists of a synthetic polymer of amino acids, denoted
Copolymer 1 (Cop 1), composed of L-alanine, L-lysine, L-glutamic acid and L-tyrosine."

http://www.weizmann.ac.il/ICS/booklet/1/pdf/copaxon.pdf

This drug is made by TEVA pharmaceuticals in Israel (and has multiple US patents) and the cost before insurances is roughly 1,500.00/ month. This drug is taken SubQ once daily.

My question is: What's the difference between Copaxone and taking each of these easy-to-obtain amino acids seperately? Could this drug be compounded? I assume the route of action is subQ for an extended release, but couldn't this also be taken care of assuming you took these amino acids PO TID or more?

It seems like this could be a cash grab for TEVA, and can't find much of anything on the net either supporting or disproving that.

Wondering what current pharmacists think.😱
 
I would assume this drug acts in a manor similar to a few other MS drugs - that histologically it is similar to myelin tissue so that the antigen-expressing T cells attack it rather than the actual neuronal cells. It's like clavulonic acid for your body's own defenses.

So assuming that's how it works...the reason you couldn't just take an amino acid vitamin lies in the fact that these amino acids are chemically linked together in a specific sequence to mimic said myelin tissue. (I think it also probably has something to do with deactivation of the Tcells, too...but I'm going off memory...) It would be kind of like taking a concoction of elemental nitrogen, carbon, sulfer, and oxygen and expecting it to somehow have the same pharmacology of a sulfonylurea or something. It's how the amino acids are put together more than anything else....
 
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