A once obscure medical treatment is seeing new popularity thanks to an improved understanding of the role the immune system plays in conditions as varied as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and Alzheimer's disease. Some worry that supplies of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), which is made of blood plasma from donors, may run short if a clinical trial confirms its effectiveness at slowing the progress of Alzheimer's.
IVIG contains an antibody known as IgG that helps to ward off infection, modulates the immune system and reduces inflammation, although the full extent of how IVIG works remains unknown. When IVIG was first approved commercially in the early 1980s--it was prescribed to replace antibodies in patients with primary immunodeficiency disease (PIDD) and, later, was used to regulate the immune system in autoimmune conditions such as multiple sclerosis. Today IVIG has over 100 off-label indications, which represent the fastest-growing sector of its market.
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