Octopus trial reaches recruitment milestone
We’re pleased to share the news that our Octopus trial has recruited more than 375 people with MS to the first stage of the trial. We’ve reached this goal two months ahead of schedule, thanks to an incredible response from the MS community and the hard work of our Octopus trial sites.
Octopus is the world’s first multi-arm, multi-stage (MAMS) trial for MS. It's designed to transform the way treatments for progressive MS are tested. The trial is recruiting people with primary and secondary progressive MS.
Recruitment for Octopus began in January 2023 in London and we now have 15 sites across the country. Eventually, there will be up to 30 sites around the UK.
Dr Emma Gray, our Assistant Director of Research, says:
“We desperately need new treatments for people with progressive MS. Octopus has the potential to transform the way we test treatments and could deliver new treatments up to three times faster than a traditional trial.
We are so grateful to everyone who has signed up to take part in the Octopus trial so far. The response from the MS community has been incredible, and it’s thanks to all the wonderful participants that trials like this can happen.”
What happens next?
The trial will now move seamlessly into the next stage, aiming to recruit up to 1500 more people with MS. In this stage, Octopus will continue to test the same treatments: metformin and alpha lipoic acid. People already taking part in Octopus will remain in the trial. And sites will continue contacting those who have already registered their interest in taking part.
As there has been a lot of interest in the trial, it may take a while to get back to you. The waiting time could be up to a year, depending on the capacity of each site.
We expect further sites to open in 2025, increasing the opportunities for people to take part.
You can find out more about the trial on the Octopus website.
And if you’re interested in taking part, you can register your interest through the UK MS Register.
How does Octopus work?
Octopus is a multi-arm multi-stage trial. This means it can test more than one treatment at a time. And it merges what would normally be two consecutive trials into one.
The data collected in stage 1 will help researchers decide whether a treatment should continue in the trial. This is called the interim analysis. Starting stage 2 recruitment before the interim analysis takes place means the trial can continue seamlessly if the results are positive.
Be in a study
There are lots of benefits of taking part in a clinical trial.
You can find out what it's like to take part in a trial and read about trials currently recruiting participants on our clinical trials page.
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