SIENA shows the drug reduces brain shrinkage in MS over 2 years
BARCELONA — Although earlier MRI data didn’t find slowed brain volume loss with teriflunomide (Aubagio), a different analytical approach identified a beneficial effect on brain atrophy, researchers reported here.
In a post-hoc analysis of MRI data from the phase III TEMSO study, using a technique called structural image evaluation using normalization of atrophy (SIENA), brain volume loss was reduced by about 30% compared with placebo over 2 years (P=0.0001), according to Till Sprenger, MD, PhD, of University Hospital Basel.
Sprenger reported the findings during a late-breaking session at the European Committee for the Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) meeting here.
“Teriflunomide has demonstrated efficacy on annualized relapse rates, disability progression, MRI activity, and now brain volume loss, and so it remains an important once-daily oral treatment for patients with relapsing-remitting MS,” Sprenger said during the presentation.
Indeed, the phase III trials TEMSO and TOWER found that teriflunomide significantly reduced the risk of disability progression in patients with relapsing MS, and researchers saw significant dose-dependent effects on brain lesions compared with placebo.