High Efficacy Therapies Reduce Relapses in Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis

High-efficacy therapies are more effective at reducing relapse for patients with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) than low-efficacy therapies, according to new research published in Neurology.

While it is known that high-efficacy drugs are introduced to MS patients early to aggressively treat the disease, treating advanced disease is difficult, and little is known about the effect of high efficacy-drugs when relapsing-remitting MS shifts to secondary progressive MS.

Researchers aimed to map the impact of high-efficacy medications over time when compared to low-efficacy medications, which are thought to be safer to take.

A total of 1,000 patients with secondary progressive MS were divided into 2 groups and analyzed over 10 years in this study. Group 1 was treated with high-efficacy medications including natalizumab and mitoxantrone. Group 2 was treated with low efficacy-drugs including teriflunomide.

Patients were analyzed for relapses and increased disability over time.

Patients with active disease treated with high-efficacy medications had 30% less relapses than the low-efficacy treatment arm, experiencing an average of 0.17 relapses per year compared to 0.27 relapses per year in patients taking low-efficacy medications.

Researchers concluded that more potent therapy methods make sense when the goal is to reduce relapse activity. When treatment goals were to limit disability progression, researchers noted both types of treatments had comparable effectiveness.

“Our study finding that high-efficacy therapies are superior to low-efficacy therapies only in reducing relapses in people with active secondary progressive MS provides valuable guidance for neurologists when choosing the most effective therapies for people with this form of MS,” said study author Tomas Kalincik, MD, PhD, of the University of Melbourne in Australia.

As this study focused on groups of therapies, more research is needed on individual therapies to map the specific effects on relapse and disability.

—Erin McGuinness

Roos I, Leray E, Casey R, et al. Effects of High and Low Efficacy Therapy in Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis [published online ahead of print, 2021 Jun 30]. Neurology. 2021;10.1212/WNL.0000000000012354. doi:10.1212/WNL.0000000000012354

AAN. Are Multiple Sclerosis Drugs Used Early on in the Disease Also Effective Later? Newswise. https://www.newswise.com/articles/are-multiple-sclerosis-drugs-used-early-on-in-the-disease-also-effective-later?sc=dwhr&xy=10046448. Published June 28, 2021. Accessed July 23, 2021.