Teva Pharmaceutical (Teva) has provided data that demonstrated patients treated for 10 and 15 years with Copaxone had significant reduction in disease severity.
The long-term analysis utilised the universal MS Severity Score (MSSS) to evaluate the accumulation of disease severity in long-term Copaxone patients actively on therapy, and those who withdrew early from the 15 year ongoing Copaxone clinical trial.
The company said that the results demonstrated that 51% of long-term Copaxone treated patients shifted to lower severity grades.
According to the company, 41% of patients who withdrew from Copaxone showed a deterioration in MSSS grades, when compared to their baseline severity grades. Patients remaining on long-term treatment had improved median MSSS scores of 1.84 and 1.69 at 10 and 15 years, compared to MSSS scores at start, 3.62 and 3.50, respectively.
Joseph Herbert, associate professor, NYU department of neurology and principal investigator of the study, said: “This study, along with other MSSS studies, is paving the way to enable neurologists to predict the progression of disease severity in MS patients. The demonstrated positive impact of long-term Copaxone treatment on slowing disease progression provides hope to MS patients and further emphasizes the importance of early treatment initiation.”