NDG forgot the paper details
Efficacy and Safety of Alemtuzumab in Patients of African Descent with Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis: 8-Year Follow-up of CARE-MS I and II (TOPAZ Study). Okai AF, Amezcua L, Berkovich RR, Chinea AR, Edwards KR, Steingo B, Walker A, Jacobs AK, Daizadeh N, Williams MJ; CARE-MS I, CARE-MS II, CAMMS03409, and TOPAZ Investigators. Neurol Ther. 2019 Oct 25. doi: 10.1007/s40120-019-00159-2. [Epub ahead of print]
Of 1200 CARE-MS patients, 43 (4%) were of African descent (35 IAT; 8 DAT) and received alemtuzumab in the 2-year core and/or 6-year extension; 29 (67%) remained on study at the time of analysis (24 IAT patients completed year 8 post alemtuzumab; 5 DAT patients completed year 6 post alemtuzumab).
In year 2, annualized relapse rate (ARR; 0.09 versus 0.42), percentage of patients with improved Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS; 18% versus 11%), 6-month confirmed disability improvement (CDI; 28% versus 13%), no evidence of disease activity (55% versus 13%), and cumulative brain volume loss (BVL; – 0.55% versus – 1.32%) favored alemtuzumab versus SC IFNB-1a. Alemtuzumab remained efficacious at year 6 (pooled IAT/DAT) and at year 8 (IAT only) post alemtuzumab (ARR: 0.15 and 0.30; improved EDSS: 17% and 25%; CDI: 47% and 55%; BVL: – 1.14% and – 0.70%, respectively). No safety signals were unique to this population.
I wonder what happened to the Hispanics?
Why well there is a genetic variant of CD52 that is much more common in hispanics. Is this important or not? I don’t know.
What will happen with cladribine, as again there are different variants of the deoxyclytodine kinase molecule associated with different ethnic groups?
