Medicine · Thursday, September 24, 2026
Modified HIV drug K-9 reverses MS vision loss and paralysis in mice, NIH says
The File desk · Sep. 24, 2026, 6:22 a.m. ET
Confirmed1 primary sources
Status
Confirmed (NIH release, Sept. 23, 2026). Mouse models only. Human multiple-sclerosis trials have not started in this release.
On Sept. 23, 2026, the National Institutes of Health said the experimental drug kamuvudine-9, called K-9, reversed pre-existing vision loss and paralysis in mouse models of multiple sclerosis, likely by blocking inflammasome activation. A U.S. claims look at more than 3 million patients linked ordinary nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor use to lower multiple-sclerosis diagnosis and relapse rates. K-9 has been in eye-disease trials. Human multiple-sclerosis trials are hoped for in the release. They have not started.
On Sept. 23, 2026, the National Institutes of Health said the experimental drug kamuvudine-9, called K-9, helped mice with a multiple-sclerosis-like disease.
The release says K-9 reversed pre-existing vision loss and paralysis in those animal models, likely by blocking inflammasome activation.
K-9 is described as a non-toxic derivative of nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, drugs used against human immunodeficiency virus.
A U.S. claims analysis of more than 3 million patients linked ordinary use of those inhibitors to lower multiple-sclerosis diagnosis and relapse rates.
The release says K-9 has been in eye-disease trials. It hopes for human multiple-sclerosis trials. Those trials have not started in this announcement.
The cited paper is in Science Translational Medicine, Sept. 23, 2026, DOI 10.1126/scitranslmed.aei2870.
How we know
What is still unknown or disputed
- Human efficacy; whether a multiple-sclerosis trial has a start date.
Primary sources
Every claim in this story is drawn from the documents below. If a fetch failed, that is recorded on the card.
Source 1
Modified HIV drug reverses vision loss, paralysis in multiple sclerosis model
National Institutes of Health · September 23, 2026
the experimental drug kamuvudine-9 (K-9) facilitates recovery from pre-existing vision loss and paralysis in animal models of multiple sclerosis (MS).
https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/modified-hiv-drug-reverses-vision-loss-paralysis-multiple-sclerosis-model