Treatment initiation at the peak of the acute phase accelerates entrance into disease remission, inhibits relapses while on treatment, but results in posttreatment disease exacerbation. Twenty-two recipient mice per group were treated with control tris lactose vehicle or 600 μg of the small-molecule VLA-4 antagonist BIO 5192 for 22 consecutive days beginning at the peak of acute disease. Also, twenty-one recipient mice per group were treated with control tris lactose vehicle or BIO 5192 for 44 consecutive days beginning at the peak of acute disease. Treatment was individualized to each mouse depending on disease state and therefore data are represented as mean clinical score versus days prior to the first treatment, the first day of treatment, and days after treatment onset.