Dimethyl fumarate versus interferon for treatment of relapsing-remitting multiple Sclerosis (P6.381)

Objective: To investigate efficacy of dimethyl fumarate (DMF) versus interferon b-1a (IFNb-1a) in controlling disease activity in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). Background: Phase II and III clinical trials on DMF reported significant reduction in clinical and radiological disease activity in RRMS patients treated with DMF compared to placebo. There is currently no study comparing DMF versus INFb-1a. Design/Methods: Clinical and imaging data were retrieved from RRMS patients who were enrolled in CLIMB study and were put on either INFb-1a (years: 2008–2013) or DMF (years: 2013–2015) for at least one year. Our primary endpoint was proportion of patients with at least one clinical relapse within 3–15 months after treatment onset. Annualized relapse rate, proportion of patients with a new T2 or gadolinium enhancing and proportion of subjects who achieved no evidence of disease activity (NEDA) status, were the secondary endpoints. We accounted for confounders using logistic regression and inverse probability weighting. Results: 319 (91on INFb-1a, 228 on DMF) were included. Baseline demographics were comparable between groups except for age, disease duration and number of previous treatments being higher and relapse rate in the prior year being lower in DMF-treated group. Proportion of patients having clinical relapse(25% vs. 9%; OR=1.82; P=0.0002) or a new MRI lesion(31% vs. 9%; OR=2.43, P= Conclusions: DMF was associated with less clinical and radiological disease activity compared to INFb-1a. Study Supported by: EMD-Serono Disclosure: Dr. Sattarnezhad has received research support from EMD Serono and Verily. Dr. Healy has received personal compensation for activities with Biogen Idec Worldwide Medical Biostatistics MS Advisory Board. Dr. Healy has received research support from Merck Serono SA, Verily Life Sciences, Genentech, and Novartis. Dr. Baharnoori has nothing to disclose. Dr. Diaz-Cruz has received research support from EMD Serono and Verily. Dr. Stankiewicz has received personal compensation for activities with Teva Neuroscience, Novartis, Sanofi Genzyme, Biogen Idec, Genentech, and Bayer as a consultant. Dr. Weiner has received personal compensation for activities with Genentech and Tiziana Life Sciences. Dr. Weiner has received research support from EMD Serono, Miragen, Sanofi, Teva and Verily. Dr. Chitnis received personal compensation for activities with Roche-Genentech and Sanofi-Genzyme. Dr. Chitnis received research support from EMD Serono, Biogen, Novartis and Verily.