Prospective trial of natalizumab personalised extended interval dosing by therapeutic drug monitoring in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (NEXT-MS)

Natalizumab treatment in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis: can we safely personalise treatment intervals? In JNNP, Toorop and coworkers present the results of the NEXT-MS trial, a clinical trial on individualised extended interval dosing (EID) of natalizumab (NTZ) in people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS).1 NTZ was one of the first high-efficacy treatments in RRMS, and has remained popular since its introduction in the late 2000s. NTZ is typically administered at a dose of 300 mg every 4 weeks. The two pivotal phase 3 NTZ trials, AFFIRM2 and SENTINEL3 were published back-to-back in the New England Journal in 2006, and while the AFFIRM trial reported no unexpected adverse events, two SENTINEL participants developed progressive multifocal leucoencephalopathy (PML), a very serious and often deadly opportunistic infection of the central nervous system. In the years since, many more cases of PML have occurred in people treated with NTZ,...
Source: Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry - Category: Neurosurgery Authors: Tags: Editorial commentaries Source Type: research