Utah has one of the highest rates of multiple sclerosis in the country. But researchers say a new drug appears to be changing the course of the disease. Science Specialist Ed Yeates explains.

Lita Jensen comes to work every day at her office in Salt Lake's McIntyre Building. She was having multiple major attacks every year that would bring on blindness in one eye. During those attacks, she would have to walk with a cane or balance herself against a wall. But that was before she started taking a drug called Copaxone.

((LITA JENSEN, M.S. PATIENT: "I HAD SEVEN MAJOR ATTACKS IN TWO YEARS. BY MAJOR, I MEAN HAVING TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL TO HAVE AN IV OUTPATIENT TREATMENT - LOTS OF STEROIDS. AFTER GOING ONTO THE DRUG, IT WAS ELEVEN MONTHS BEFORE MY NEXT ATTACK. SO THAT WAS A GREAT AMOUNT OF TIME - A WONDERFUL THING FOR ME."))

((ED YEATES, SCIENCE SPECIALIST: "LITA JENSEN WAS A PARTICIPANT IN CLINICAL TRIALS HERE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH. NOW SHE TAKES A DAILY INJECTION OF COPAXONE, MUCH LIKE A DIABETIC TAKES INSULIN."))

Dr. John Rose says patients tolerate the new drug very well and side effects are rare.

(("I TAKE IT ONCE A NIGHT, JUST BEFORE I GO TO BED. IT'S USING JUST A SMALL DIABETIC NEEDLE, VERY SHORT, VERY SMALL - SUBCUTANEOUS INJECTIONS - VERY EASY TO DO."))

Researchers in Utah and ten other study centers say the data now shows the drug, since its release last year, seems to be changing the course of the disease.

((JOHN ROSE M.D., U OF U NEUROLOGY: "A 30 PERCENT REDUCTION IN RELAPSE RATE AND LESS DISABILITY ACCUMULATING OVER TIME."))

Despite its effectiveness, neurologists emphasize Copaxone is still a symptomatic treatment for M.S., NOT a cure.

Doctors will talk about new findings on Copaxone and other drugs at a FREE public meeting for M.S. patients and their families -- Thursday, April 2 at 6pm in Building number eight at the Salt Lake Veterans Medical Center.