LONDON—Significant treatment effect versus placebo of cladribine tablets given to patients with clinically isolated syndrome during the initial treatment period continues to be observed in patients who convert to clinically definite multiple sclerosis (MS) and switch to treatment with a different disease modifying drug (ie, subcutaneous interferon beta-1a), according to data presented at the 32nd Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS).
Giancarlo Comi, MD, Professor of Neurology and Chairman of the Department of Neurology at Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan, Italy, and colleagues reported that patients with clinically isolated syndrome who had been treated with cladribine tablets and who had converted to MS during the Oral Cladribine in Early Multiple Sclerosis (ORACLE-MS) initial treatment period had lower annualized relapse rates during the open-label maintenance period, relative to those patients who had received placebo during the ORACLE-MS initial treatment period.