To Örebro University

Background: Alemtuzumab (ALZ) is a modulatory drug for patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). Post-marketing surveillance is important to assess the long term safety and effectiveness in a real-world setting. ALZ has therefore been included into the Swedish post-market surveillance study “Immunomodulation and Multiple Sclerosis Epidemiology Study 3” (IMSE 3) upon launch in Sweden (March 2014).

Objective: To follow up the effectiveness and long-term safety of ALZ in a real-world setting.

Methods: Swedish MS patients are registered into the nationwide Swedish Neuro Registry (NeuroReg). IMSE 3 includes patients starting ALZ treatment. Adverse events (AEs) and clinical meas-ures; Extended Disability Status Scale (EDSS), Multiple Sclerosis Severity Scale (MSSS), Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), Multiple Sclerosis Impact Scale (MSIS-29), European Quality of Life - 5 Dimension Test (EQ-5D) and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) are obtained from NeuroReg. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to assess changes in effectiveness.

Results: 110 patients (60% female; 95% RRMS) have been included in IMSE 3 between March 2014 and April 2018. Mean age at treatment start was 34 years and mean treatment duration was 28 months. Most patients (40%) switched from natalizumab and 14% were treatment naïve. 103 patients were currently treated with ALZ at cut-off date and 97 patients had been treated for at least 12 months. Seven patients had discontinued ALZ treatment, of which five patients switched to another disease modifying therapy, one patient died in association with the first ALZ treatment cycle due to fulminant viral hepatitis and one patient had no treatment registered after ALZ discontinuation. In total, 20 AEs were reported to the Swedish Medical Products Agency; 13 events were classified as non-serious. In patients treated at least 12 months significant improvements were seen for EDSS (2.0±1.4 to 1.6±1.3, n=67), MSSS (3.4±2.6 to 2.6±2.3, n=58), MSIS-29 Physical (22.9±21.0 to 17.5±18.0, n=83), VAS (66.9±22.0 to 73.7±18.5, n=68) and EQ-5D (0.7±0.3 to 0.8±0.3, n=74). MSIS-29 Psychological and SDMT did not improve significantly.

Conclusions: NeuroReg functions well as a post-marketing drug surveillance platform, providing data regarding drug effectiveness and AEs. A longer follow-up period is needed to evaluate the real-world effectiveness and safety of ALZ.