Stephen L. Hauser, MD: Ofatumumab in Treatment-Naïve Patients With MS

“Many experts in the MS area feel—and it’s certainly my feeling—that we want to minimize or halt progression as early as possible, even at the beginning of disease when progression may be more difficult to detect by our routine methods of interrogation.”

Stephen L. Hauser, MD, and colleagues presented data at MS Virtual 2020, the 8th Joint ECTRIMS-ACTRIMS meeting, September 11–13, 2020, suggesting that ofatumumab (Kesimpta; Novartis) is superior to teriflunomide (Aubagio; Sanofi) in newly diagnosed, treatment-naïve patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) who have low absolute relapse rates, very low MRI lesion activity, and prolonged time to disability worsening.

Notably, these findings were consistent with the overall study population of ASCLEPIOS I and II, the pivotal trials for the agent. All told, compared to patients on teriflunomide, ofatumumab reduced annualized relapse rates (ARR) by 50.3% (0.09 vs. 0.18; P <.001). As well, 3-month Confirmed Disability Worsening (CDW) risk was reduced by 38% (10.1% vs 12.8%; P = .065), and 6-month CDW risk was reduced by 46% (5.9% vs 10.4%; P = .044). Gadolinium-enhancing T1 lesions per scan were cut by 95.4% (0.02 vs 0.39: P <.001) and new/enlarging T2 lesions per year were lowered by 82.0% (0.86 vs 4.78, P <.001).

To find out more about these data and how they translate clinically for the physician community, NeurologyLive reached out to Hauser, who presented the data and is a professor of neurology at, and director of, the UCSF Weill Institute for Neuroscience.

For more coverage from MS 2020, click here.

REFERENCE
Gartner J, Hauser S, Bar-Or A, et al. Benefit-risk of ofatumumab in treatment-naïve early relapsing multiple sclerosis patients. Presented at MS Virtual 2020 Joint ECTRIMS-ACTRIMS meeting; September 11–13, 2020. Abstract P0192.