Today a drug made by Switzerland based Novartis AG, called Gilenya was approved by the Food & Drug Administration in the United States. The drug has been designed to slow the progression of Multiple Sclerosis (MS), and reduce the amount of relapses in a patient.

Gilenya is the first oral drug for Multiple Sclerosis. In getting it approved by the FDA, Novartis beats competitor Merck in creating an oral MS drug.

Gilenya, is not a complete miracle drug however. It is not guaranteed to work for all people suffering from MS, and it exhibits some potential serious side effects. The possible side effect that doctors are warned of include, increased risk of infection, slower heart rate, and macular edema of the patients’ eyes. Other less serious side effects include diarrhea, back aches, elevated enzymes in the liver, coughing, and headaches.

The drug will only be used to treat relapsing M.S., which is the most common form of Multiple Sclerosis.

Multiple Sclerosis is an inflammatory disease that effects the brain and spinal cord. It causes the myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spine to get damaged. Scarring in this area of the body can leave a patient permanently crippled in some cases. The more attacks someone has, the more long term side effects tend to develop. The disease is more common in females than in males.

Today Novartis stock (NYSE:NVS) is down 0.28% to $56.30 a share.