Analyzing Cognitive Impairment and Disease Progression in Early Multiple Sclerosis: Robert Zivadinov, MD, PhD

WATCH TIME: 3 minutes

"This study focuses on a unique cohort of patients with early MS and reaffirms the prevalence of cognitive impairment even in this population, urging a conversation about cognitive decline and its management."

Multiple sclerosis (MS), a complex disease of the central nervous system (CNS), can cause permanent disability in patients living with the condition. Ozanimod (Zeposia; BMS), an FDA-approved sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) receptor modulator, is a selective agent to prevent autoreactive lymphocytes, which can determine inflammation and neurodegeneration, from entering the CNS.¹ The therapy is currently being investigated in a multicenter, longitudinal, single-arm, open-label study called ENLIGHTEN (NCT04140305), exploring whether patients with relapsing-remitting MS experience cognitive processing speed benefits from the treatment.

At the 2023 Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers (CMSC) Annual Meeting, held May 31 to June 3, in Aurora, Colorado, Robert Zivadinov, MD, PhD, spoke in a platform session on focused on the relationship between cognitive performance and brain volume outcomes in patients with relapsing MS. In his presentation, he specifically discussed imaging findings from the phase 3b ENLIGHTEN study investigating ozanimod in patients with the disease.²

Zivadinov sat down in an interview with NeurologyLive® at the meeting to further discuss the study, including how the study analyzed cognitive decline in patients with early MS and some of the diverse outcome measures examined in the study. Additionally, Zivadinov spoke about how the study emphasizes the importance of considering disease duration and lesion burden in relation to cognitive impairment among patients with MS.

Click here for more coverage of CMSC 2023.

REFERENCES
1. Fronza M, Lorefice L, Frau J, Cocco E. An Overview of the Efficacy and Safety of Ozanimod for the Treatment of Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis. Drug Des Devel Ther. 2021;15:1993-2004. Published 2021 May 11. doi:10.2147/DDDT.S240861
2. Zivadinov R. Relationship Between Baseline Cognitive Performance and Brain Volume Outcomes in Patients with Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis in ENLIGHTEN: Phase 3b Study of Ozanimod. Presented at: 2023 CMSC Annual Meeting; held May 31-June 3; Aurora, CO. IMG03.