BACKGROUND Treatment of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis with interferon beta is only partly effective, and new more effective and safe strategies are needed. Our aim was to assess the efficacy of oral methylprednisolone as an add-on therapy to subcutaneous interferon beta-1a to reduce the yearly relapse rate in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. METHODS NORMIMS (NORd...

Two manufacturer sponsored phase III trials suggest that alemtuzumab, an anti-CD52 monoclonal antibody that is licensed to treat leukaemia, may help control multiple sclerosis. Both trials lasted two years and compared alemtuzumab with interferon beta-1a, which is considered first line treatment. One trial looked at 563 patients who had not yet undergone treatment for multiple sclerosis, wherea...

Multiple sclerosis is a disease with a potentially severe prognosis and epidemiologically increasing. Interferon beta 1a is a very useful maintenance therapy widely used by neurologists. In the literature, there are several case reports of  hypersensitivity reactions. In this case report we describe an anaphylactic IgE mediated reaction to interferon beta 1a. We also describe, for the first tim...

BACKGROUND African Americans (AAs) with multiple sclerosis (MS) seem to have a more severe disease course than white Americans (WAs). To our knowledge, it is not known to what extent treatment with interferon beta-1a will effect the MS disease course within the AA population. OBJECTIVE To compare the response to treatment with interferon beta-1a between AA and WA MS patients. DESIGN This is...

BACKGROUND Within the past 10 years, several immunomodulatory agents (IMAs) have become available for the treatment of relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS), making therapeutic decisions more complex. We performed a systematic review of the literature to assess the efficacy and safety of these agents on physical, inflammatory, and cognitive measures of disease activity. METHODS We identified rele...

Peginterferon beta-1a was efficacious in a Phase 3 relapsing multiple sclerosis trial, and its safety profile was consistent with other beta interferons. This study evaluated the impact of renal impairment on the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics (neopterin elevation; a biomarker of pharmacological activity induced by interferon beta-1a) of peginterferon beta-1a following a single subcutane...

OBJECTIVES Previous systematic reviews and meta-analyses of treatments in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) derived their findings from either placebo-controlled studies only or separately from head-to-head and comparative studies. The purpose of this study is to compare annualized relapse rates (ARR) of fingolimod versus all of the commonly used first-line treatments in RRMS using ...