Unfortunately, none of the three drugs that were tested showed the potential to slow disability progression in MS. Although this is very disappointing news, the results tell us a lot about the biological pathways in progressive MS. This will help researchers rule out and prioritise other drugs for future trials.
The trial was extremely well conducted, meaning these results are robust and we now know not to pursue these drugs any further. This means that riluzole will not be taken forward to further clinical trials, and will not become available as a treatment for MS.
Read more about MS-SMART on the project page.