More on cladribine in multiple sclerosis

Further analysis of the CLARITY trial has provided more information about the effectiveness of the lymphocyte-depleting agent cladribine in the treatment of multiple sclerosis.

CLARITY showed that Merck Serono’s cladribine reduced relapse rates, the risk of disability progression, and MRI measures of disease activity in patients with multiple sclerosis. New data presented at the 62nd Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Toronto show that cladribine increased the proportion of patients free of clinical and radiological disease activity throughout the 96-week trial from 16% with placebo to 43–44%. Cladribine also reduced use of healthcare resources, decreased the need for societal support, improved patient productivity and reduced total non-drug spending compared with placebo.