Multiple Sclerosis

Siponimod (Mayzent; Novartis) improved Symbol Digit Modalities Test scores in patients at 12, 18, and 24 months compared to placebo.

The Novartis agent showed benefit in patients who had multiple sclerosis both with and without relapses.

Novartis’s S1P receptor modulator siponimod (Mayzent) showed benefits in a number of patients with SPMS on the Motor Integration and Collateral subscales of the Expanded Disability Status Scale.

Five-year EXPAND study data suggest that Novartis’s S1P receptor modulator has sustained benefit and delays disability over long-term treatment in patients with SPMS.

The director of the Multiple Sclerosis Program at Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health discussed the correlation between age and disease duration in MS, as well as what was learned from a subanalysis of the EXPAND study of siponimod.

Patients with a disease duration of <16 years demonstrated a significantly greater reduction in risk for confirmed disability progression (CDP) at 3 and 6 months.

After showing significant benefits in delayed disease progression in patients with secondary progressive MS, new data suggests siponimod can delay the time to wheelchair dependence by 4 years.

Marketed as Mayzent, the selective sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor modulator is the first treatment for patients with active secondary progressive multiple sclerosis in almost 15 years.

If approved, siponimod would be the first oral disease-modifying therapy with the potential to delay secondary progressive multiple sclerosis progression.