MS in the News: New MS Drug Data Highlight Meeting

By John Gever, Senior Editor, MedPage Today

SAN DIEGO — Reports on closely watched drug trials, involving established as well as investigational products, are likely to make the biggest splash at the joint CMSC-ACTRIMS meeting under way here.

Topping the list will be the first formal presentation of results from the TENERE trial pitting the investigational oral drug teriflunomide against subcutaneous interferon beta-1a (Rebif) in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS), and more detailed data from the CombiRx trial of combined glatiramer acetate (Copaxone) and interferon beta-1a (Avonex).

The meeting — held jointly by the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers (CMSC) and the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS) — is the only major MS-focused scientific conference in the U.S.

The TENERE presentation, slated for Saturday with Patrick Vermersch, MD, of the University of Lille Nord de France in Lille, France, as lead investigator, represents the second installment in a series of phase III trials conducted by teriflunomide’s sponsor, Sanofi’s Genzyme unit.

It’s also the first to report on teriflunomide in a direct head-to-head comparison with an established agent. The only other trial to be completed, called TEMSO, evaluated teriflunomide as monotherapy.

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