The effectiveness of natalizumab vs fingolimod-A comparison of international registry studies

Johanna B Andersen 1Sifat Sharmin 2Mathilde Lefort 3Nils Koch-Henriksen 4Finn Sellebjerg 5Per Soelberg Sørensen 6Claudia C Hilt Christensen 7Peter V Rasmussen 8Michael B Jensen 9Jette L Frederiksen 10Stephan Bramow 5Henrik K Mathiesen 6Karen I Schreiber 5Dana Horakova 11Eva K Havrdova 11Raed Alroughani 12Guillermo Izquierdo 13Sara Eichau 13Serkan Ozakbas 14Francesco Patti 15Marco Onofrj 16Alessandra Lugaresi 17Murat Terzi 18Pierre Grammond 19Francois Grand Maison 20Bassem Yamout 21Alexandre Prat 22Marc Girard 22Pierre Duquette 22Cavit Boz 23Maria Trojano 24Pamela McCombe 25Mark Slee 26Jeannette Lechner-Scott 27Recai Turkoglu 28Patrizia Sola 29Diana Ferraro 29Franco Granella 30Vahid Shaygannejad 31Julie Prevost 32Olga Skibina 33Claudio Solaro 34Rana Karabudak 35Bart V Wijmeersch 36Tunde Csepany 37Daniele Spitaleri 38Steve Vucic 39Romain Casey 40Marc Debouverie 41Gilles Edan 42Jonathan Ciron 43Aurélie Ruet 44Jérôme D Sèze 45Elisabeth Maillart 46Hélène Zephir 47Pierre Labauge 48Gilles Defer 49Christine Lebrun 50Thibault Moreau 51Eric Berger 52Pierre Clavelou 53Jean Pelletier 54Bruno Stankoff 55Olivier Gout 56Eric Thouvenot 57Olivier Heinzlef 58Abdullatif Al-Khedr 59Bertrand Bourre 60Olivier Casez 61Philippe Cabre 62Alexis Montcuquet 63Abir Wahab 64Jean-Philippe Camdessanché 65Aude Marousset 66Ivania Patry 67Karolina Hankiewicz 68Corinne Pottier 69Nicolas Maubeuge 70Céline Labeyrie 71Chantal Nifle 72Emmanuelle Leray 3David A Laplaud 73Helmut Butzkueven 74Tomas Kalincik 75Sandra Vukusic 76Melinda Magyari 77

Affiliations


Abstract

Background: Natalizumab and fingolimod were the first preparations recommended for disease breakthrough in priorly treated relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. Of three published head-to-head studies two showed that natalizumab is the more effective to prevent relapses and EDSS worsening.

Methods: By re-analyzing original published results from MSBase, France, and Denmark using uniform methodologies, we aimed at identifying the effects of differences in methodology, in the MS-populations, and at re-evaluating the differences in effectiveness between the two drugs. We gained access to copies of the individual amended databases and pooled all data. We used uniform inclusion/exclusion criteria and statistical methods with Inverse Probability Treatment Weighting.

Results: The pooled analyses comprised 968 natalizumab- and 1479 fingolimod treated patients. The on-treatment natalizumab/fingolimod relapse rate ratio was 0.77 (p=0.004). The hazard ratio (HR) for a first relapse was 0.82 (p=0.030), and the HR for sustained EDSS improvement was 1.4 (p=0.009). There were modest differences between each of the original published studies and the replication study, but the conclusions of the three original studies remained unchanged: in two of them natalizumab was more effective, but in the third there was no difference between natalizumab and fingolimod.

Conclusion: The results were largely invariant to the epidemiological and statistical methods but differed between the MS populations. Generally, the advantage of natalizumab was confirmed.

Keywords: Fingolimod; Head-to-head comparison; Multiple sclerosis; Natalizumab; Treatment effectiveness.


Similar articles

Treatment effectiveness of alemtuzumab compared with natalizumab, fingolimod, and interferon beta in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis: a cohort study.

Kalincik T, Brown JWL, Robertson N, Willis M, Scolding N, Rice CM, Wilkins A, Pearson O, Ziemssen T, Hutchinson M, McGuigan C, Jokubaitis V, Spelman T, Horakova D, Havrdova E, Trojano M, Izquierdo G, Lugaresi A, Prat A, Girard M, Duquette P, Grammond P, Alroughani R, Pucci E, Sola P, Hupperts R, Lechner-Scott J, Terzi M, Van Pesch V, Rozsa C, Grand'Maison F, Boz C, Granella F, Slee M, Spitaleri D, Olascoaga J, Bergamaschi R, Verheul F, Vucic S, McCombe P, Hodgkinson S, Sanchez-Menoyo JL, Ampapa R, Simo M, Csepany T, Ramo C, Cristiano E, Barnett M, Butzkueven H, Coles A; MSBase Study Group.Lancet Neurol. 2017 Apr;16(4):271-281. doi: 10.1016/S1474-4422(17)30007-8. Epub 2017 Feb 11.PMID: 28209331

Natalizumab Versus Fingolimod in Patients with Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis: A Subgroup Analysis From Three International Cohorts.

Sharmin S, Lefort M, Andersen JB, Leray E, Horakova D, Havrdova EK, Alroughani R, Izquierdo G, Ozakbas S, Patti F, Onofrj M, Lugaresi A, Terzi M, Grammond P, Grand'Maison F, Yamout B, Prat A, Girard M, Duquette P, Boz C, Trojano M, McCombe P, Slee M, Lechner-Scott J, Turkoglu R, Sola P, Ferraro D, Granella F, Prevost J, Maimone D, Skibina O, Buzzard K, Van der Walt A, Van Wijmeersch B, Csepany T, Spitaleri D, Vucic S, Casey R, Debouverie M, Edan G, Ciron J, Ruet A, De Sèze J, Maillart E, Zephir H, Labauge P, Defer G, Lebrun-Frénay C, Moreau T, Berger E, Clavelou P, Pelletier J, Stankoff B, Gout O, Thouvenot E, Heinzlef O, Al-Khedr A, Bourre B, Casez O, Cabre P, Montcuquet A, Wahab A, Camdessanché JP, Maurousset A, Patry I, Hankiewicz K, Pottier C, Maubeuge N, Labeyrie C, Nifle C, Laplaud D, Koch-Henriksen N, Sellebjerg FT, Soerensen PS, Pfleger CC, Rasmussen PV, Jensen MB, Frederiksen JL, Bramow S, Mathiesen HK, Schreiber KI, Magyari M, Vukusic S, Butzkueven H, Kalincik T; Danish Multiple Sclerosis Registry, OFSEP and the MSBase investigators.CNS Drugs. 2021 Nov;35(11):1217-1232. doi: 10.1007/s40263-021-00860-7. Epub 2021 Sep 18.PMID: 34536228

Comparative analysis of natalizumab versus fingolimod as second-line treatment in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.

Lorscheider J, Benkert P, Lienert C, Hänni P, Derfuss T, Kuhle J, Kappos L, Yaldizli Ö.Mult Scler. 2018 May;24(6):777-785. doi: 10.1177/1352458518768433. Epub 2018 Apr 24.PMID: 29685071

Systematic literature review and network meta-analysis in highly active relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis and rapidly evolving severe multiple sclerosis.

Huisman E, Papadimitropoulou K, Jarrett J, Bending M, Firth Z, Allen F, Adlard N.BMJ Open. 2017 Mar 10;7(3):e013430. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-013430.PMID: 28283486 Free PMC article. Review.

Fingolimod for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.

La Mantia L, Tramacere I, Firwana B, Pacchetti I, Palumbo R, Filippini G.Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2016 Apr 19;4:CD009371. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD009371.pub2.PMID: 27091121 Review.


Cited by

Impact of methodological choices in comparative effectiveness studies: application in natalizumab versus fingolimod comparison among patients with multiple sclerosis.

Lefort M, Sharmin S, Andersen JB, Vukusic S, Casey R, Debouverie M, Edan G, Ciron J, Ruet A, De Sèze J, Maillart E, Zephir H, Labauge P, Defer G, Lebrun-Frenay C, Moreau T, Berger E, Clavelou P, Pelletier J, Stankoff B, Gout O, Thouvenot E, Heinzlef O, Al-Khedr A, Bourre B, Casez O, Cabre P, Montcuquet A, Wahab A, Camdessanché JP, Maurousset A, Ben Nasr H, Hankiewicz K, Pottier C, Maubeuge N, Dimitri-Boulos D, Nifle C, Laplaud DA, Horakova D, Havrdova EK, Alroughani R, Izquierdo G, Eichau S, Ozakbas S, Patti F, Onofrj M, Lugaresi A, Terzi M, Grammond P, Grand'Maison F, Yamout B, Prat A, Girard M, Duquette P, Boz C, Trojano M, McCombe P, Slee M, Lechner-Scott J, Turkoglu R, Sola P, Ferraro D, Granella F, Shaygannejad V, Prevost J, Maimone D, Skibina O, Buzzard K, Van der Walt A, Karabudak R, Van Wijmeersch B, Csepany T, Spitaleri D, Vucic S, Koch-Henriksen N, Sellebjerg F, Soerensen PS, Hilt Christensen CC, Rasmussen PV, Jensen MB, Frederiksen JL, Bramow S, Mathiesen HK, Schreiber KI, Butzkueven H, Magyari M, Kalincik T, Leray E.BMC Med Res Methodol. 2022 May 30;22(1):155. doi: 10.1186/s12874-022-01623-8.PMID: 35637426 Free PMC article.

Comparative Effectiveness of Natalizumab Versus Anti-CD20 in Highly Active Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis After Fingolimod Withdrawal.

Rollot F, Couturier J, Casey R, Wiertlewski S, Debouverie M, Pelletier J, De Sèze J, Labauge P, Ruet A, Thouvenot E, Ciron J, Berger E, Gout O, Clavelou P, Stankoff B, Casez O, Bourre B, Zephir H, Moreau T, Lebrun-Frenay C, Maillart E, Edan G, Neau JP, Montcuquet A, Cabre P, Camdessanché JP, Defer G, Nasr HB, Maurousset A, Hankiewicz K, Pottier C, Leray E, Vukusic S, Laplaud DA.Neurotherapeutics. 2022 Mar;19(2):476-490. doi: 10.1007/s13311-022-01202-1. Epub 2022 Feb 25.PMID: 35217934 Free PMC article.


KMEL References