Ofatumumtab Treatment Results in No Evidence of Disease Activity (NEDA) for Majority of Those Treated 

In the phase 3 Asclepios trial (NCT02792218) and the ALITHIOS open-label extension (NCT02792231), 78.8% of participants with relapsing multiple sclerosis (RMS) treated continuously with ofatumumab (Kesimpta; Novartis, Cambridge, MA) had no evidence of disease activity (NEDA-3). 

This is in comparison with the 51.8% of participants who switched to ofatumumab after being treated with teriflunomide (odds ratio: 3.89; P<.001) in the double-blind period.

An additional analysis showed participants treated with ofatumumab had significant improvements in cognitive processing speed (CPS) compared with those treated with teriflunomide. 

“Early initiation of high-efficacy therapies for the treatment of RMS has been shown to improve long-term outcomes vs escalating from lower efficacy therapies,” said professor Ludwig Kappos, University Hospital Basel. “NEDA-3 is an important endpoint for physicians to consider when deciding to initiate high efficacy therapy, with this latest data from ALITHIOS we can clearly see the benefit of starting Kesimpta early vs switching to it later from teriflunomide.”

These data were presented at the European Academy of Neurology (EAN) Annual Meeting held June 25–28, 2022 in Vienna, Austria and online.