PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Bovis, Francesca
AU  - Kalincik, Tomas
AU  - Lublin, Fred
AU  - Cutter, Gary
AU  - Malpas, Charles
AU  - Horakova, Dana
AU  - Havrdova, Eva Kubala
AU  - Trojano, Maria
AU  - Prat, Alexandre
AU  - Girard, Marc
AU  - Duquette, Pierre
AU  - Onofrj, Marco
AU  - Lugaresi, Alessandra
AU  - Izquierdo, Guillermo
AU  - Eichau, Sara
AU  - Patti, Francesco
AU  - Terzi, Murat
AU  - Grammond, Pierre
AU  - Bergamaschi, Roberto
AU  - Sola, Patrizia
AU  - Ferraro, Diana
AU  - Ozakbas, Serkan
AU  - Iuliano, Gerardo
AU  - Boz, Cavit
AU  - Hupperts, Raymond
AU  - Grand'Maison, Francois
AU  - Oreja-Guevara, Celia
AU  - van Pesch, Vincent
AU  - Cartechini, Elisabetta
AU  - Petersen, Thor
AU  - Altintas, Ayse
AU  - Soysal, Aysun
AU  - Ramo-Tello, Cristina
AU  - McCombe, Pamela
AU  - Turkoglu, Recai
AU  - Butzkueven, Helmut
AU  - Wolinsky, Jerry S.
AU  - Solaro, Claudio
AU  - Sormani, Maria Pia
TI  - Treatment Response Score to Glatiramer Acetate or Interferon Beta-1a
AID  - 10.1212/WNL.0000000000010991
DP  - 2021 Jan 12
TA  - Neurology
PG  - e214--e227
VI  - 96
IP  - 2
4099  - http://n.neurology.org/content/96/2/e214.short
4100  - http://n.neurology.org/content/96/2/e214.full
SO  - Neurology2021 Jan 12; 96
AB  - Objective To compare the effectiveness of glatiramer acetate (GA) vs intramuscular interferon beta-1a (IFN-β-1a), we applied a previously published statistical method aimed at identifying patients' profiles associated with efficacy of treatments.Methods Data from 2 independent multiple sclerosis datasets, a randomized study (the Combination Therapy in Patients With Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis [CombiRx] trial, evaluating GA vs IFN-β-1a) and an observational cohort extracted from MSBase, were used to build and validate a treatment response score, regressing annualized relapse rates (ARRs) on a set of baseline predictors.Results The overall ARR ratio of GA to IFN-β-1a in the CombiRx trial was 0.72. The response score (made up of a linear combination of age, sex, relapses in the previous year, disease duration, and Expanded Disability Status Scale score) detected differential response of GA vs IFN-β-1a: in the trial, patients with the largest benefit from GA vs IFN-β-1a (lower score quartile) had an ARR ratio of 0.40 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.25–0.63), those in the 2 middle quartiles of 0.90 (95% CI 0.61–1.34), and those in the upper quartile of 1.14 (95% CI 0.59–2.18) (heterogeneity p = 0.012); this result was validated on MSBase, with the corresponding ARR ratios of 0.58 (95% CI 0.46–0.72), 0.92 (95% CI 0.77–1.09,) and 1.29 (95% CI 0.97–1.71); heterogeneity p < 0.0001).Conclusions We demonstrate the possibility of a criterion, based on patients' characteristics, to choose whether to treat with GA or IFN-β-1a. This result, replicated on an independent real-life cohort, may have implications for clinical decisions in everyday clinical practice.ARR=annualized relapse rate; CombiRx=Combination Therapy in Patients With Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis; CI=confidence interval; EDSS=Expanded Disability Status Scale; GA=glatiramer acetate; Gd+=gadolinium-enhancing; IFN-β-1a=interferon beta-1a; MS=multiple sclerosis; NPDE=non-PDE; PDE=protocol-defined exacerbation; RCT=randomized clinical trial; RRMS=relapsing-remitting MS