Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Jun;43(6):473-484.
doi: 10.1002/phar.2810. Epub 2023 May 22.

Comparative adherence trajectories of oral disease-modifying agents in multiple sclerosis

Jagadeswara Rao Earla  1 , Jieni Li  1 , George J Hutton  2 , Michael L Johnson  1 , Rajender R Aparasu  1
Affiliations

Comparative adherence trajectories of oral disease-modifying agents in multiple sclerosis

Jagadeswara Rao Earla et al. Pharmacotherapy. 2023 Jun.

Erratum in

Abstract

Study objective: This study compared the adherence trajectories of fingolimod (FIN), teriflunomide (TER), and dimethyl fumarate (DMF) users with multiple sclerosis (MS) as there is limited evidence regarding the comparative adherence patterns of different oral disease-modifying agents (DMAs).

Design: A retrospective cohort study DATA SOURCE: 2015-2019 IBM MarketScan Commercial Claims Database.

Patients: Adults (≥18 years) with MS (International Classification of Diseases [ICD]-9/10-Clinical Modification [CM]:340/G35) diagnosis and ≥1 DMA prescription.

Intervention: Incident FIN-, TER-, or DMF use based on the index DMA with 1 year of washout period.

Measurements: The DMA adherence trajectories based on the proportion of days covered (PDC) were examined using the Group-Based Trajectory Modeling (GBTM) one year after the treatment initiation. Generalized boosting models (GBM)-based inverse probability treatment weights (IPTW) were incorporated in multinomial logistic regression to assess the comparative adherence trajectories across oral DMAs with FIN group as a reference category.

Measurements and main results: The study cohort consisted of 1913 patients with MS who were initiated with FIN (24.2%, n = 462), TER (24.0%, n = 458), and DMF (51.9%, n = 993) during 2016-2018. The adherence rate (PDC ≥ 0.8) among FIN, TER, and DMF users was found to be 70.8% (n = 327), 59.6% (n = 273), and 61.0% (n = 606), respectively. The GBTM grouped patients into three adherence trajectories: Complete Adherers-59.1%, Slow Decliners-22.6%, and Rapid Discontinuers-18.3%. The multinomial logistic regression model involving GBM-based IPTW revealed that DMF (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 2.32, 95% confidence interval [CI]:1.57-3.42) and TER (aOR: 2.50, 95% CI: 1.62-3.88) users had higher odds to be rapid discontinuers relative to FIN users. In addition, TER users were more likely (aOR: 1.50, 95% CI: 1.06-2.13) to be slow decliners compared with FIN users.

Conclusion: Teriflunomide and DMF were associated with poorer adherence trajectories than FIN. More research is needed to evaluate the clinical implications of these adherence trajectories of oral DMAs to optimize the management of MS.

Keywords: adherence; multiple sclerosis; real-world evidence; treatment pattern.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

REFERENCES

    1. Comi G, Radaelli M, Soelberg SP. Evolving concepts in the treatment of relapsing multiple sclerosis. Lancet. 2017;389(10076):1347-1356. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(16)32388-1
    1. English C, Aloi JJ. New FDA-approved disease-modifying therapies for multiple sclerosis. Clin Ther. 2015;37(4):691-715. doi:10.1016/j.clinthera.2015.03.001
    1. Järvinen E, Holmberg M, Sumelahti ML. Injectable disease modifying agents in multiple sclerosis: pattern of medication use and clinical effectiveness. Neurol Int. 2016;8(3):6513. doi:10.4081/ni.2016.6513
    1. Scolding N, Barnes D, Cader S, et al. Association of British Neurologists: revised (2015) guidelines for prescribing disease-modifying treatments in multiple sclerosis. Pract Neurol. 2015;15(4):273-279. doi:10.1136/practneurol-2015-001139
    1. Earla JR, Paranjpe R, Kachru N, Hutton GJ, Aparasu RR. Use of disease modifying agents in patients with multiple sclerosis: analysis of ten years of national data. Res Social Adm Pharm. 2020;16(12):1670-1676. doi:10.1016/j.sapharm.2020.02.016

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources