Therapeutic issues

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.