Safety of alemtuzumab in a nationwide cohort of Finnish multiple sclerosis patients.
J Neurol
; 269(2): 824-835, 2022 Feb.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34255182
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Alemtuzumab is an effective disease-modifying therapy (DMT) for highly active multiple sclerosis (MS). However, safety concerns limit its use in clinical practice.OBJECTIVES:
To evaluate the safety of alemtuzumab in a nationwide cohort of Finnish MS patients.METHODS:
In this retrospective case series study, we analyzed the data of all but two MS patients who had received alemtuzumab in Finland until 2019. Data were systematically collected from patient files.RESULTS:
Altogether 121 patients were identified, most of whom had received previous DMTs (82.6%). Median follow-up time after treatment initiation was 30.3 months and exceeded 24 months in 78 patients. Infusion-associated reactions (IARs) were observed in 84.3%, 57.3%, and 57.1% of patients during alemtuzumab courses 1-3, respectively. Serious adverse events (SAEs) were observed in 32.2% of patients, serious IARs in 12.4% of patients, and SAEs other than IARs in 23.1% of patients. Autoimmune adverse events were observed in 30.6% of patients. One patient died of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, and one patient died of pneumonia. A previously unreported case of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura was documented.CONCLUSIONS:
SAEs were more frequent in the present cohort than in previous studies. Even though alemtuzumab is a highly effective therapy for MS, vigorous monitoring with a long enough follow-up time is advised.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting
/
Multiple Sclerosis
Type of study:
Observational_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
En
Journal:
J Neurol
Year:
2022
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Finland