REPORT FROM THE 26TH CONGRESS OF THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR TREATMENT AND RESEARCH IN MS (ECTRIMS), GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN, OCTOBER 13-16, 2010 – Patients with clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) suggestive of MS treated with an immunomodulatory therapy are at high risk of stopping treatment once they experience a relapse, according to an analysis of data from the MSBase Incident Study (MSBASIS) (Spelman et al. ECTRIMS 2010; abstract P819).
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Switching to fingolimod: TRANSFORMS extension study results
October 15, 2010REPORT FROM THE 26TH CONGRESS OF THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR TREATMENT AND RESEARCH IN MS (ECTRIMS), GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN, OCTOBER 13-16, 2010 – TRANSFORMS (Trials assessing injectable interferon vs. fingolimod oral in RRMS) was a phase III trial comparing fingolimod and intramuscular beta-interferon-1a in patients with relapsing-remitting MS (Cohen et al. N Engl J Med 2010; 362: 402-415; updated results in Clinical Developments in Multiple Sclerosis , Neurosens, July 7, 2010). The 12-month study reported annualized relapse rates (ARR) of 0.16 with fingolimod 0.5 mg/day, 0.20 with fingolimod 1.25 mg/day and 0.33 with beta-interferon-1a.
TEMSO phase III results for teriflunomide
October 15, 2010REPORT FROM THE 26TH CONGRESS OF THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR TREATMENT AND RESEARCH IN MS (ECTRIMS), GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN, OCTOBER 13-16, 2010 – The novel oral agent teriflunomide reduces relapse rates by about one-third compared to placebo in patients with relapsing-remitting MS, according to new results from the TEMSO phase III trial presented at ECTRIMS (O’Connor et al. ECTRIMS 2010; abstract 79). The annualized relapse rate (ARR) was significantly reduced in both active treatment arms versus placebo: ARR was 0.370 and 0.369 with teriflunomide 7 mg/day and 14 mg/day, respectively, compared to 0.539 with placebo. The relative risk reductions with teriflunomide were 31.2% and 31.5%, respectively, with the two doses.
Investigating interaction of environmental, genetic factors in MS
October 14, 2010REPORT FROM THE 26TH CONGRESS OF THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR TREATMENT AND RESEARCH IN MS (ECTRIMS), GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN, OCTOBER 13-16, 2010 – Recent papers have speculated that environmental factors, such as vitamin D status, may interact directly with genetic factors to increase the susceptibility to MS (Handunnetthi et al. Neurology 2010; 74: 1905-1910). Of particular interest is the HLA DRB1*1501 allele, which has been shown in numerous studies to influence MS risk (Link et al. J Neuroimmunol 2010; 226: 172-176).