- |||||||||| Rituxan (rituximab) / Biogen, Zenyaku Kogyo, Roche, Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) / Sanofi
[VIRTUAL] Propensity-matched comparison of early intensive and escalation treatment strategy in Finnish MS patients () - Dec 8, 2020 - Abstract #AECF2020AECF_157; A total of 127 MS patients who initiated infusion therapy as first disease modifying therapy (DMT) within 3 years of relapsing MS diagnosis (EIT group) and 1620 patients initially treated with injectable therapies, teriflunomide or dimethylfumarate (ESC group), were identified from four hospital districts...In the EIT group, 43 patients were treated with natalizumab, 3 with rituximab and 9 with alemtuzumab... EIT resulted in lower risk and longer time to disability progression than ESC strategy.
- |||||||||| Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) / Sanofi
Preclinical, Journal: Targeting CD52 does not affect murine neuron and microglia function. (Pubmed Central) - Nov 28, 2020 Altogether, our findings argue against a functionally significant role of CD52 blockade on CNS neurons and microglia. The beneficial effects of alemtuzumab in MS may be exclusively mediated by peripheral immune mechanisms.
- |||||||||| Soliris (eculizumab) / Alexion Pharma, Mavenclad (cladribine) / EMD Serono
[VIRTUAL] Acute kidney failure as part of oral cladribine therapy () - Nov 28, 2020 - Abstract #DGN2020DGN_470; The temporal association of cladribine treatment with anti-GBM glomerulonephritis is the only indication of a possible causality. A dysregulation of the immune system due to the decrease is conceivable regulatory T cells, so that secondary autoimmune phenomena are favored.
- |||||||||| Rituxan (rituximab) / Biogen, Zenyaku Kogyo, Roche, Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) / Sanofi
[VIRTUAL] A case of adult Still’s disease in an alemtuzumab-treated multiple sclerosis patient () - Nov 28, 2020 - Abstract #DGN2020DGN_438; The current case highlights AOSD as another rare and potentially life-threatening secondary autoinflammatory/autoimmune event following alemtuzumab treatment. Thorough clinical follow-up and early intense interdisciplinary communication and intervention are necessary in suspicious cases after treatment with alemtuzumab.
- |||||||||| Campath (alemtuzumab) / Sanofi, Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) / Sanofi
Clinical, Journal: Alemtuzumab-associated diffuse alveolar damage - a case report. (Pubmed Central) - Nov 25, 2020 Our case highlights another pathomechanism for non-infective lung-disorders in alemtuzumab treated MS patients. DAD is a potential, albeit rare side effect of alemtuzumab, broadening the spectrum of non-infective lung disorders that should be considered in the diagnostic work-up.
- |||||||||| Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) / Sanofi
Retrospective data, Review, Journal: Alemtuzumab-induced thyroid events in multiple sclerosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. (Pubmed Central) - Nov 7, 2020 Antithyroid drugs should represent the first-line treatment for ALZ-induced GD patients. However, alemtuzumab-induced GD could not be considered as having a more favourable outcome than conventional GD, given the substantial chance to encounter a fluctuating and unpredictable course.
- |||||||||| Leustatin (cladribine) / J&J
Journal: MSCOVID19: Using social media to achieve rapid dissemination of health information. (Pubmed Central) - Nov 2, 2020 The cases shared present the earliest reported data on outcomes of COVID-19 infection in pwMS. Whilst limited, the cautiously reassuring nature of these early cases assisted in clinical management by allowing neurologists to continuously reassess their approach to DMT management.
- |||||||||| Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) / Sanofi
Clinical, Journal: COVID-19 and multiple sclerosis: A description of two cases on alemtuzumab. (Pubmed Central) - Nov 2, 2020 Whilst limited, the cautiously reassuring nature of these early cases assisted in clinical management by allowing neurologists to continuously reassess their approach to DMT management. In selected patients (young, without comorbidities, and with high activity), MS itself could be more dangerous than COVID-19, so we should consider continuing MS treatment as previously planned, including alemtuzumab.
- |||||||||| Leustatin (cladribine) / J&J, Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) / Sanofi
Review, Journal: Effects of MS disease-modifying therapies on responses to vaccinations: A review. (Pubmed Central) - Nov 1, 2020 Responses to any vaccination depend on the vaccine type, the type of response (recall versus response to a novel antigen), and the impact of the individual disease-modifying therapy on humoral and cellular immunity in response to that vaccine type. When considering a given therapy, clinicians should weigh its efficacy against MS for the individual patient versus potential impact on responses to vaccinations that may be needed in the future.
- |||||||||| Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) / Sanofi
Journal, IO Biomarker: Alemtuzumab in Multiple Sclerosis: Short- and Long-Term Effects of Immunodepletion on the Peripheral Treg Compartment. (Pubmed Central) - Oct 31, 2020 Treg suppressive function constantly increased within 1 year when co-cultured with syngeneic T-cells, but remained stable against allogeneic T-cells from normal donors. Our findings suggest that (1) Treg are not spared from alemtuzumab-mediated depletion and thymopoiesis does not considerably contribute to long-term recovery, (2) either homeostatic proliferation and/or conversion from residual Tcon contributes to Treg expansion during the early post-treatment phase (3) the enhanced inhibitory effect of Treg following alemtuzumab is due to altered composition and reactivity of post-depletional Tcon.
- |||||||||| Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) / Sanofi
Journal: GABA receptor autoimmunity after alemtuzumab treatment for multiple sclerosis. (Pubmed Central) - Oct 28, 2020 Our findings suggest that (1) Treg are not spared from alemtuzumab-mediated depletion and thymopoiesis does not considerably contribute to long-term recovery, (2) either homeostatic proliferation and/or conversion from residual Tcon contributes to Treg expansion during the early post-treatment phase (3) the enhanced inhibitory effect of Treg following alemtuzumab is due to altered composition and reactivity of post-depletional Tcon. No abstract available
- |||||||||| Leustatin (cladribine) / J&J, Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) / Sanofi
Review, Journal: Immunological Aspects of Approved MS Therapeutics. (Pubmed Central) - Oct 22, 2020 Currently, more than a dozen drugs representing 1 substances with different mechanisms of action have been approved (interferon beta preparations, glatiramer acetate, fingolimod, siponimod, mitoxantrone, teriflunomide, dimethyl fumarate, cladribine, alemtuzumab, ocrelizumab, and natalizumab)...The objective of this review is to present the modes of action of these drugs and their effects on the immunopathogenesis of MS. Each agent's clinical development and potential side effects are discussed.
- |||||||||| Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) / Sanofi
[VIRTUAL] Budget IMPACT Modelling for Alemtuzumab in Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis Patients in Colombia () - Oct 3, 2020 - Abstract #ISPOREU2020ISPOR-EU_1814; The financing of alemtuzumab into the Colombian health system implies a financial effort during the first two years, which could be offset by the expected savings observed in the subsequent years, and even further after year 5. As an opportunity for future research, it would be relevant to consider the inclusion of costs associated with relapses and management of patients according to their EDSS, in order to evaluate their effects on the budgetary impact associated with the introduction of alemtuzumab into the Colombian health system.
- |||||||||| [VIRTUAL] Optimal Treatment Sequence for Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis- Results from a Health Economic Modelling Study () - Oct 3, 2020 - Abstract #ISPOREU2020ISPOR-EU_1168;
Sequences were limited to treatments in the Dutch MS clinical guidelines with first line (interferons, glatiramer acetate, dimethyl fumarate and teriflunomide), second line (fingolimod, ocrelizumab, cladribine and natalizumab) and third line (alemtuzumab)...Treatments that were dominated in the fully incremental analysis ranked high in a net health benefit analysis. Limitations of the study include the lack of treatment effect on imaging results, which are an important driver in clinical decision making, and issues inherent to the use of NMA, such as confounders due to trial design.
- |||||||||| Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) / Sanofi
Journal: Impact of FcγR variants on the response to alemtuzumab in multiple sclerosis. (Pubmed Central) - Oct 3, 2020 No differences in clinical and MRI-based efficacy parameters, the development of severe infusion-associated reactions and secondary autoimmune diseases during a 2 year follow-up was observed based on FCGR3A or FCGR2A polymorphisms. This study does not support the use of FCGR genetic variants to predict clinical outcomes to alemtuzumab.
- |||||||||| dimethyl fumarate / Generic mfg., Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) / Roche, Biogen, Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) / Sanofi
Journal: Highly active RRMS and ocrelizumab after failure of alemtuzumab therapy. (Pubmed Central) - Sep 30, 2020 The rigor and transparency of reporting in this study provide a benchmark for comparisons with future new agents. Thus, when the alemtuzumab treatment is unsuccessful, the authors recommend testing T- and B-cell levels and proceeding with an early switch to ocrelizumab if high B-cell counts are found.
- |||||||||| Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) / Sanofi
Clinical, Review, Journal: The use of alemtuzumab in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis: the Gulf perspective. (Pubmed Central) - Sep 27, 2020 Experts in the care of multiple sclerosis shared their opinions based on study data and daily clinical experience in identifying the appropriate patient profile suitable for alemtuzumab's therapeutic benefits. Age, disease activity and severity, disability status, physician experience, and economic condition are some of the key indicators for alemtuzumab use.
- |||||||||| Leustatin (cladribine) / J&J, Mavenclad (cladribine) / EMD Serono, Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) / Sanofi
Journal: New directions of immunocorrection in multiple sclerosis (Pubmed Central) - Sep 20, 2020 It is assumed that patients with a high risk of multiple sclerosis progression are the optimal group of patients for the early use of selective immunoreconstitution therapy. Thus, immunoreconstitution therapy may be the treatment of choice for many patients with highle active multiple sclerosis.
- |||||||||| Mavenclad (cladribine) / EMD Serono, Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) / Sanofi
Clinical, Review, Journal: Comparison of the clinical benefits of second-line drugs modifying the course of multiple sclerosis (Pubmed Central) - Sep 18, 2020 Cladribine in tablets are comparable by the efficacy to other modern highly effective second-line drugs, have a high level of evidence and a favorable safety profile, as well as the most preferred benefit/risk ratio among other MS DMDs indicated for the treatment of highly active MS, which offers an advantage to the drug. The use of cladribine in tablets will contribute to further study of the efficacy and safety of this highly efficient drug for MS treatment.
- |||||||||| Kepivance (palifermin) / SOBI, Amgen, Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) / Sanofi
Journal, Lymphopenia: Keratinocyte growth factor impairs human thymic recovery from lymphopenia. (Pubmed Central) - Sep 17, 2020 P1/2 These results offer a note of caution to those using palifermin to promote thymopoiesis in other settings, particularly in the oncology/haematology setting where alemtuzumab is often used as part of the conditioning regime. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01712945Funding: MRC and Moulton Charitable Foundation.
- |||||||||| Campath (alemtuzumab) / Sanofi, Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) / Sanofi
Clinical, Journal: Updated recommendations of the Council of Experts on the use and safety of alemtuzumab (Lemtrada) (Pubmed Central) - Sep 16, 2020 The safety profile of the drug includes infusion-associated reactions, thyroid dysfunction, immune cytopenia, acute cardiovascular events, infections, and other autoimmune diseases. This publication provides updated practical recommendations for the use of the drug and ensuring the safety of patients treated with alemtuzumab.
- |||||||||| Leustatin (cladribine) / J&J, Mavenclad (cladribine) / EMD Serono, Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) / Sanofi
Review, Journal: Multiple Sclerosis Disease-Modifying Therapy and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications on the Risk of Infection and Future Vaccination. (Pubmed Central) - Sep 9, 2020 Within the cell-depleting agents, selective (ocrelizumab) or preferential (cladribine) depletion of B cells may be relatively safer than non-selective depletion of lymphocytes and innate immune cells (alemtuzumab)...In this article, we review and compare disease-modifying therapies in terms of their effect on the immune system, published infection rates, potential impact on SARS-CoV-2 susceptibility, and vaccine-related implications. We propose risk mitigation strategies and practical approaches to disease-modifying therapy during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- |||||||||| Journal: Trends of Industry Payments in Neurology Subspecialties. (Pubmed Central) - Sep 4, 2020
Conclusions From 2014 to 2018, the total industry-to-physician payments for neurology subspecialties increased while the distribution of industry-to-physician payments for various neurology subspecialties showed notable changes. The introduction of newer medications in a subspecialty coincided with higher industry payments. Identification of these trends and potential motives of the industry spending is critical to address any potential physician bias in prescribing medications.
- |||||||||| Leustatin (cladribine) / J&J, dimethyl fumarate / Generic mfg., Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) / Sanofi
[VIRTUAL] Nowcasting Covid-19 in patients with Multiple Sclerosis via social media () - Sep 3, 2020 - Abstract #MSDC2020MSDC_1631; MS patients were treated with anti-CD20 13/40, fingolimod 9/40, alemtuzumab 5/40, dimethyl fumarate 4/40, cladribine 3/40, and natalizumab/glatiramer acetate/interferon each 2/40...However, if in the future structured reporting of anonymized data sets could be established and flagged via common hash tags, quality of a social media reporting might serve as complementary strategy to common registry work. The main positive impact of such an approach is the rapid distribution of crucial information in a given emergency setting like the SARS-Cov2 pandemic and the complete availability to all persons without any access restrictions.
- |||||||||| Plegridy (PEG-interferon β-1a) / Biogen, Lemtrada (alemtuzumab) / Sanofi
[VIRTUAL] New findings from the 2020 MS Barometer on MS prevalence, practicing neurologists and use of disease-modifying drugs across Europe () - Sep 3, 2020 - Abstract #MSDC2020MSDC_1630; For all questions related to DMDs, respondents were asked to consider the following treatments: interferon-beta 1a, peginterferon-beta 1a, interferon-beta 1b, glatiramer acetate, teriflunomide, dimethyl fumerate, fingolimod, cladribine (oral), siponimod, natalizumab, alemtuzumab, and ocrelizumab...Countries reported a median of 51% of people with MS on DMDs. Across Europe the survey found approximately 61,000 practicing neurologists.
- |||||||||| [VIRTUAL] National Multiple Sclerosis Society Healthcare Provider Councils COVID-19 Survey () - Sep 3, 2020 - Abstract #MSDC2020MSDC_1625;
Some MS specialists reported suspending certain DMTs during the pandemic (21.4% each for alemtuzumab and B cell-depleting agents) and/or extending the dosing intervals (38.1% for natalizumab and 11.9% for fingolimod and siponimod).Conclusions In this nationwide survey, MS specialist physicians and other clinicians serving on regional NMSS Healthcare Provider Councils across the U.S. reported major changes in their delivery of MS care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Further research is warranted to explore these trends and to develop consensus guidelines on best treatment practices for patients living with MS.
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