Cross-sectional patient-level data was collected once-yearly. It was then reviewed by an independent market intelligence agency which specializes in tracking the MS market, including trending changes in management and treatment patterns.

Initiation of MS DMT in treatment-naive MS patients was evaluated in 2016 (N=1,020), 2017 (N=1,033), and 2018 (N=1,059) contributed online by neurologists (N=242, N=274, N=213). MS patients were analyzed as a whole, as well as by subsets of clinically isolated syndrome (CIS; N=138, N=84, N=79), relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS; N=777, N=801, N=758), and primary progressive MS (PPMS; N=25, N=32, N=80). 2019 data will be included in the presentation.

Overall selection of injectable interferon betas (IFNβs) decreased over this time period (26% in 2016 down to 17% in 2018; p<0.05). Glatiramer acetate (brand and generics) selection remained stable (30% to 31%), although generic use is increasing. Oral DMT selection has also remained stable (36% to 35%), while mAb selection increased (8% to 18%; p<0.05). Initial DMT selection differed somewhat for CIS vs. RRMS. CIS DMT selection found increased use of glatiramer acetate (29% to 48%; p<0.05), declining use of IFNβ and oral DMT use, and little mAb use (≤7%). RRMS over this time period showed falling IFNβ selection (p<0.05), stable GA and oral DMT selection, and ≥7% mAb selection. For PPMS, selection of IFNβs, GA, and orals have dropped to ≤13%, while mAb (largely ocrelizumab) accounted for 71% of new DMT starts (up from 24% in 2016; p<0.05).

DMT selection patterns for MS are changing, with a decrease in IFNβ and an increase in mAb due to the availability of ocrelizumab for both treatment-naive RRMS and PPMS. Glatiramer acetate use has remained stable due to uptake of generic agents.