Multiple sclerosis (MS), in its various forms, has been a hassle for doctors everywhere. The disease itself boasts a resistance against 15 different FDA approved drugs that attempt to counteract it. Although it has been a struggle, scientists aren’t backing down just yet.

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MS is a disease that targets the brain and spinal cord, specifically the covering around the nerve cells. Another way to look at it could be to equate it to a phone cord--human nerves are built like phone cords, with the wire on the inside conducting information and the thick outside keeping the wire safe. This disease works by attacking the thick outer shell of nerve cells, deteriorating them before eventually getting to the actual “wire” of the nerves, which it has the chance to cause permanent damage.

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There are copious issues that arrive upon being diagnosed. All patients experience the disease differently, causing the list of symptoms to range from dizziness and lightheadedness to extended double vision and problems with bowel and bladder function. It’s currently unknown what exactly causes MS, but it is considered an autoimmune disease, defined as a type of disease that makes body cells attack themselves.

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The last attempt at curing MS was a drug called Ocrelizumab. The drug had a successful trial in 2012, but it was not successful in all instances. Users of the drug experienced a slower deterioration than those who used a placebo drug. This treatment has been recently cleared by the FDA, though has taken on a new name, Ocrevus.

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There are two treatments currently in development for MS patients. The first is using a drug called Guanabenz, although the drug is still in the early stages of human testing. The drug works as an “Antihypertension drug,” a drug that works against high blood pressure. It is predicted to protect certain parts of the nerve cells, and by doing so, it could stop the disease.

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The second treatment is still in the animal-testing phase, a drug called Sephin 1. In vivo, Sephin 1 safely prevented the motor and molecular defects of two protein-misfolding diseases in mice.

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Through new treatments and much research by scientists, a working treatment may soon arrive.