European survey reveals delays in MS treatment

Despite evidence showing the benefit of early treatment, disease-modifying beta interferon treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS) is not initiated on average until a patient has experienced between four and five documented MS relapses, says a major pan-European survey. The results of the survey, ^3,4 which was carried out among more than 300 neurologists in seven EC countries (France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the UK), were presented by Professor Hans-Peter Hartung, professor and chairman of the department of neurology, Heinrich-Heine University, Duesseldorf, Germany, at the recent European Neurological Society (ENS) meeting in Berlin.

But while the findings show there is still some way to go before clinical practice matches current knowledge, they represent an improvement on the results of similar research conducted 12 months previously,³ with the average number of relapses prior to treatment initiation falling from 5.0 to 4.4.

However, MS experts are predicting that this situation will change in the light of the recent extension of indication of Avonex (interferon beta-1a) to include patients who have experienced only one attack or demyelinating event but who are judged to be at high risk of progressing to clinically definite MS.

'The clinical evidence and extension of indication for Avonex may ultimately change usage patterns dramatically,' said Hartung. 'Hopefully these developments will significantly accelerate the natural shift towards earlier treatment that we are currently seeing.

Despite this trend, there continue to be barriers for prescribers to contend with. 'The licensing of Avonex for patients who do not even have a confirmed MS diagnosis gives prescribers an added impetus for starting treatment earlier in patients with clinically definite MS,' he concluded.