This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Sign in
Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

Therapeutic issues

Authoring team

The following issues should be considered:

  • when to start interferon therapy?
    • interferon does not reverse disability which argues for early intervention, however
    • 10-20% of patients with MS have a benign course and would not benefit from interferon treatment
    • perhaps early treatment should be considered in patients with a poor prognosis

Note - long-term observational data (median 21 years from randomised controlled trial enrolment) suggest that early treatment with interferon beta-1b is associated with prolonged survival in initially treatment-naive patients with relapsing-remitting MS. (1)

Reference

  1. Goodin DS, Reder AT, Ebers GC, et al. Survival in MS: a randomized cohort study 21 years after the start of the pivotal IFNβ-1b trial. Neurology. 2012 Apr 24;78(17):1315-22.

Related pages

Create an account to add page annotations

Create a free account

Add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation, such as a web address or phone number. This information will always be displayed when you visit this page

The content herein is provided for informational purposes and does not replace the need to apply professional clinical judgement when diagnosing or treating any medical condition. A licensed medical practitioner should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any and all medical conditions.

Connect

Copyright 2026 Oxbridge Solutions Limited, a subsidiary of OmniaMed Communications Limited. All rights reserved. Any distribution or duplication of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited. Oxbridge Solutions receives funding from advertising but maintains editorial independence.