Category Ranking

98%

Total Visits

921

Avg Visit Duration

2 minutes

Citations

20

Article Abstract

Background: Combining two oral therapies with different mechanisms could be an attractive treatment strategy for multiple sclerosis (MS) to increase efficacy; however, evidence of such efficacy and safety is lacking.

Objectives: The phase 3 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled POINT study evaluated efficacy and safety of ponesimod 20 mg versus placebo as an add-on therapy to ongoing dimethyl fumarate (DMF) treatment in patients with active relapsing MS despite DMF monotherapy.

Methods: Patients (18-55 years) were randomized (1:1) to ponesimod+DMF or placebo+DMF orally once-daily for ≤156 weeks. Primary endpoint was annualized relapse rate (ARR) at end-of-study (EOS). Secondary endpoints were 12-week confirmed disability accumulation (CDA), time-to-first confirmed relapse, and number of combined unique active lesions (CUALs) on brain Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at EOS.

Results: The study was prematurely terminated due to slow recruitment; of 600 planned patients, 136 (23 %; [ponesimod: n = 68, placebo: n = 68]) were randomized. Primary endpoint (ARR) was not met (rate ratio, ponesimod+DMF versus placebo+DMF: 1.2; p = 0.5252). Ponesimod+DMF group showed a lower mean number of CUALs/year (rate ratio: 0.37; p = 0.0072). Other efficacy outcomes did not differ between the treatment groups. Adverse events (AEs) were comparable between groups (ponesimod+DMF: 48 [71.6 %]; placebo+DMF: 53 [77.9 %]); dizziness was the most commonly reported AE in the ponesimod+DMF group (10.4 %).

Conclusions: This terminated study did not demonstrate the superiority of ponesimod+DMF on clinical efficacy endpoints. In the exploratory analysis ponesimod+DMF versus DMF alone appeared associated with a lower disease activity as assessed by MRI. No new safety signals were reported for ponesimod+DMF.

Gov Identifier: NCT02907177 URL: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT02907177.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.msard.2025.106616DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

treatment patients
8
patients active
8
active relapsing
8
multiple sclerosis
8
dimethyl fumarate
8
phase randomized
8
efficacy safety
8
primary endpoint
8
rate ratio
8
ponesimod+dmf versus
8

Similar Publications

Aims: To assess self-reported practices and knowledge of nurses and prescribers (i.e., physicians and nurse practitioners) on intravenous fluid therapy, and to evaluate how this is documented through a clinical documentation review.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: To evaluate the clinical characteristics, social deprivation, insurance coverage, and medication use across regional subsets of patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) in the US.

Methods: A cross-sectional study of PsA patients in the Rheumatology Informatics System for Effectiveness (RISE) registry between January 2020 and March2023 was conducted. Distribution of high disease activity (HDA - RAPID3>12), high comorbidity (RxRisk ≥90 percentile), high Area Deprivation Index (ADI ≥80), insurance coverage, prednisone ≥10mg daily, and all DMARD therapies across geographic regions were evaluated.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

IGLV3-21-directed bispecific antibodies activate T cells and promote killing in a high-risk subset of chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Haematologica

September 2025

Division of Medical Oncology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland; Laboratory of Translational Immuno-Oncology, Department of Biomedicine, University and University Hospital Basel, Basel.

We previously used a disease-specific B cell receptor (BCR) point mutation (IGLV3-21R110) for selective targeting of a high-risk subset of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells. Since CLL is a disease of the elderly and a significant fraction of patients is not able to physically tolerate CAR T cell treatment, we explored bispecific antibodies as an alternative for precision targeting of this tumor mutation. Heterodimeric IgG1-based antibodies consisting of a fragment crystallizable region (Fc) attached to both an anti-IGLV3-21R110 Fab and an anti-CD3 (UCHT1) single chain variable fragment (R110-bsAb) selectively killed cell lines engineered to express high levels of the neoepitope as well as primary CLL cells using healthy donor and CLL patient-derived T cells as effectors.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Immunotherapies, including cell therapies, are effective anti-cancer agents. However, cellular product persistence can be limiting with short functional duration of activity contributing to disease relapse. A variety of manufacturing protocols are used to generate therapeutic engineered T-cells; these differ in techniques used for T-cell isolation, activation, genetic modification, and other methodology.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF