Increased Infection Risk with Highly Effective Disease-Modifying MS Therapies

Clinical trial data suggest that newer disease-modifying drugs for multiple sclerosis (MS) are associated with increased risk for infections. However, few real-world data are available on the association. To provide such data, investigators queried the Swedish MS registry for infections resulting in hospitalization and compared rates in MS patients and in a matched general-population cohort.

Data were available from 2011 through 2017 on 6421 patients with MS with 8600 treatment initiations recorded (3260 started on rituximab, 1588 on natalizumab, 1535 on fingolimod, and 2217 on interferon [IFN]/glatiramer acetate [GA]) and 42,645 age-, sex-, and region-matched people without MS. Compared with IFN/GA, fingolimod was associated with a nonsigni…