according to the invention , in the method for the treatment and / or prophylaxis of multiple sclerosis in mammals , in particular in humans , the erythropoietin is now applied intermittently . this means that , with the present invention , an interval treatment is proposed . it is thereby particularly advantageous if the treatment comprises a sequence of periods of time with application of epo ( application period ) and periods of time without application of epo ( application - free periods ). the individual periods of time thereby comprise several weeks . a sequence has emerged as particularly advantageous in which each application period lasts 12 to 48 weeks , advantageously 18 to 36 weeks , advantageously 24 to 28 weeks , whilst the application - free periods last 8 to 53 weeks , advantageously 16 to 28 weeks . within the application periods , the dosage can be varied , for example firstly a period of time with a weekly application and a subsequent period of time with a two - weekly application . the present invention serves in particular for the use of erythropoietin in a method of this type or the use of erythropoietin for the production of a drug with which the described method can be implemented . the dosage is thereby respectively in the values described in the claims , particularly advantageously in a dosage range of 5 , 000 iu to 100 , 000 iu ( international units ) per week or per administration . with the mentioned interval dosage schemes , the result surprisingly is a constant improvement in the clinical symptoms during treatment . the improved level is maintained astonishingly in the interval and the second cycle produces a further improvement . surprisingly , an improvement in the symptoms was shown not only in the case of chronic - progressive multiple sclerosis but also in the case of relapsing - remitting multiple sclerosis . in particular in the case of chronic - progressive multiple sclerosis , a deterioration in the symptoms would have been expected during the treatment - free interval . however stabilisation also occurred here . the interval treatment according to the invention is an innovative approach to the entire concept of neuroprotection which , in the case of epo with multiple sclerosis , exploits in addition the fact that the result with half - yearly erythropoietin treatment is a latent , desired lack of iron . since lack of iron can be advantageous in addition for the known neuroprotective epo effect in chronic inflammatory diseases such as multiple sclerosis , advantageously iron is substituted neither in the treatment nor in the treatment - free phase . the treatment - free phase serves therefore also for slow replenishment of the depleted iron stores , as a result of balanced nutrition . in particular in the case of use of epo with haematopoietic effect , the neuroprotective effect is consequently supplemented by the latent lack of iron produced by the epo treatment . the effect according to the invention is however also achieved already by using epo derivatives or variants without haematopoietic effect . the above explanation relates to the method but the invention is not only directed to the therapeutic method but also to the use of epo in a method of this type and also the use of epo for the production of a drug for use in a method of this type . in the following , a few examples of use according to the invention of erythropoietin - α ( commercial name erypo / eprex ) or erythropoietin - β ( commercial name neorecormon ) are given . fig1 shows the course of the maximum walking distance ( prototype of motor function measurement in multiple sclerosis ) in a female patient ( case example ) who had an epo interval treatment over a period of 58 weeks . as is evident from the figure , the patient had an introductory phase of in total five weeks in order to determine the baseline values of her walking distance . there followed a weekly administration of epo over 14 weeks . after the 15 th week till the 28 th week inclusive , she received epo every two weeks . from week 29 to 45 , a treatment phase was provided , i . e . the patient obtained no epo . from week 46 to 58 , she was again treated weekly with epo . the illustrated “ trend line ” shows a constant increase in the maximum walking distance over the total course of examination . this course should be expected in the reverse direction ( progressive deterioration in the walking distance ) with chronic - progressive ms . fig2 shows , with the same patient as in fig1 ( epo interval treatment ), an improvement in attention capacity over the various treatment phases without setbacks in performance being able to be observed in the therapy - free interval . fig3 demonstrates the course of the haematocrit value in the same patient as in fig1 over the entire examination period . the result in this case example is that no value falls outside of the normal range . in this patient , no blood - letting was necessary over the entire treatment duration . fig4 summarises the functional improvement in walking distance with four patients who were treated in the same manner as the patient represented in fig1 . over ten weeks of epo treatment , a significant improvement is already shown . fig5 shows a summary of the attention capacity ( visual scanning ) in the four patients shown in fig4 over a period of time of in total nine weeks . the improvement in cognitive performance is significant . fig6 likewise shows a significant improvement in fine motor - function in the group of four patients , who were represented in fig4 , over the first nine weeks of the weekly epo treatment . fig7 demonstrates , using the group of patients illustrated in fig4 , that , with very good clinical safety / tolerance also of the classic ( haematopoietic ) epo , the necessity for blood - letting with ms patients is restricted to a small number . four patients in total were thereby treated with erythropoietin α ( eprex ) or erythropoietin β ( neorecormon ). in summary , it can be established that it was proved that long - term treatment of this type with epo is well tolerated by the patients . it was shown in particular that the therapy regime applied improved the motor and cognitive as well as the neurophysiological performance .
the present invention relates to a method for the treatment and / or prophylaxis of multiple sclerosis , and to the use of erythropoietin for this purpose and for the manufacture of a medicament for the intermittent treatment and / or intermittent prophylaxis of multiple sclerosis .