Early Interferon Beta-1b Treatment Postpones Multiple Sclerosis Onset

Main Category: Multiple Sclerosis
Article Date: 06 Apr 2006 - 0:00 PDT

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Early treatment with interferon beta-1b (Betaseron) in patients with a first clinical demyelinating event suggestive of multiple sclerosis (MS) significantly delays progression to MS, researchers announced at the 58th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN).

Mark S. Freedman, MD, professor of neurology at University of Ottawa in Ottawa, Canada, and colleagues randomized 487 patients in a 5:3 ratio to treatment with either 250 mcg interferon beta-1b given every other day or placebo as a subcutaneous injection.

The Betaseron in Newly Emerging Multiple Sclerosis for Initial Treatment (BENEFIT) trial, was conducted in Canada, Europe, and Israel.

All participants had experienced a first clinically demyelinating event suggestive of MS and had typical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings

Patients were treated for up to 24 months or until clinical definite MS was diagnosed, if earlier.

Of patients assigned to drug treatment, 28 percent were diagnosed with MS after two years compared with 45 percent of placebo patients. "This amounts to a 50 percent decrease in the risk of clinically definite MS in patients taking interferon beta-1b," Dr. Freedman reported.

Interferon beta-1b prolonged the time to clinically definite MS by 363 days.

Subgroup analyses demonstrated that the treatment effect was most dramatic in patients with clinically less disseminated disease, lower lesion loads, or no enhancing lesions on MRI.

Dr. Freedman said that the study results support the use of interferon beta-1b for initial treatment of newly developing MS.

The study was supported by Schering AG and Berlex.

Written by Jill Stein
Jill Stein is a Paris-based freelance medical writer.

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