“For many years, we started most MS patients on traditional injectable medications that were very safe but had limited efficacy, and even after the advent of HETs, we’ve seen that most people with MS tend to gravitate toward the lower-risk options, when presented with a choice, because they feel that they will be safer,” says Daniel Ontaneda, MD, CTSC KL2 Scholar, staff neurologist at the Cleveland Clinic Mellen Center for Multiple Sclerosis, and researcher and assistant professor at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of ǿմý, in Ohio.
The problem, according to Dr. Ontaneda, is that with no consensus within the field as to when or even if to prescribe HETs, and no published clinical trials comparing outcomes of treating with the newer monoclonal antibodies against treating with older, “lower-risk” options, physicians don’t have the data to make informed recommendations. Thus, people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) can’t make informed decisions.
Dr. Ontaneda is the PI of the DELIVER-MS clinical trial and will review the health records of patients with RRMS enrolled in this trial, as well as the TREAT-MS clinical trial, to compare outcomes following treatment with HETs.