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Treating Multiple Sclerosis Patients with Diroximel Fumarate to Ensure Future Adherence and Persistence

Date: 06/02/2021

 

AcariaHealth recently conducted research in collaboration with Biogen to evaluate persistence and adherence for multiple sclerosis (MS) patients taking diroximel fumarate therapy. The article entitled, Multiple Sclerosis Patients Treated With Diroximel Fumarate in the Real-world Setting Have High Rates of Persistence and Adherence, was published in the journal Neurology and Therapy.

The research focuses on diroximel fumarate (DRF), an approved oral fumarate therapy for relapsing MS. During the clinical trials compared with dimethyl fumarate (DMF), a similar oral fumarate therapy, DRF demonstrated clinically significant improvements in gastrointestinal (GI) tolerability and a low rate (<1%) of discontinuation due to the GI adverse events (AEs). However, the question arose if patients treated with DRF would yield high rates of persistence or adherence in a real-world setting.

AcariaHealth conducted a retrospective analysis that followed patients with MS who initiated DRF therapy during a four-month period. Persistence (defined as the overall proportion of patients remaining on therapy), discontinuation rates due to GI AEs, and adherence (as measured by proportion of days covered) were measured as endpoints during the study. Baseline demographic and disease characteristics were determined between patients in the overall population and patients who had received prior DMF treatment.

The analysis following DRF-treated patients reported high levels of overall persistence and adherence, as well as a low rate of treatment discontinuation due to GI AEs. Similar results were observed in patients who switched from DMF to DRF treatment. High levels of adherence and persistence to disease-modifying therapies are vital for optimal treatment outcomes in MS patients.

“Medication tolerability is a major contributor to improved adherence rates and disease management among MS patients. These real-world results confirm previous study claims regarding DRF tolerability and provide additional insights on persistence and adherence,” said Brittney Lager, PharmD, FMNM, ABAAHP, CSP and Senior Clinical Account Manager.

This research was presented during the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS) 2021 Forum and as encore presentation for the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) 2021 Annual Meeting.

Learn more about the methods used and the results in the full abstract (PDF).

 

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