Extavia

Recruitment of patients for this survey was organized through an independent external market research company that conducted screening telephone calls to select patients with MS from their database of participants who had previously expressed a willingness to participate in market research projects. Patients were included if they lived in the US, were aged 18–70 years, had a relapsing form of MS, and sometimes or always used an autoinjector to self-administer either glatiramer acetate/Copaxone^® (Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.; Copaxone Autoject or Autoject 2), interferon beta-1b/Extavia^® (Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp.; Extavia Auto-Injector or Auto-Injector II), or interferon beta-1a/Rebif^® (EMD Serono Inc.; Rebif Rebiject or Rebiject II). Exclusion criteria were a diagnosis less than 6 months ago or a diagnosis of primary progressive MS (PPMS).

We identified 4 groups of adult patients with RRMS retrospectively (index therapy initiated 2001–2018) in the NTD MS registry: (1) patients who responded to GA treatment (Copaxone; TEVA, Ulm, Germany) (GA responders); (2) patients who did not respond to GA treatment (GA nonresponders); (3) patients who responded to IFN-β treatment (IFN-β1a: Avonex [Biogen, Munich, Germany], Rebif [Merck, Darmstadt, Germany]; IFN-β1b: Betaferon [Bayer, Leverkusen, Germany], Extavia [Novartis, Nuremberg, Germany]) (IFN-β responders); and (4) patients who did not respond to IFN-β treatment (IFN-β nonresponders). Patients were stratified as responders if they were relapse free in the first 12 months of treatment and as nonresponders if treatment was discontinued by their treating physician due to lack of efficacy, defined as any of relapse activity; clinically meaningful Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) progression; worsening MRI findings; or progression of clinical disability not associated with relapse. Patients were included if they had received or were receiving GA or IFN-β and had regular follow-up visits documented for ≥12 months after index therapy initiation. Patients receiving previous or current treatment affecting B-cell function (anti-CD20 antibodies [e.g., rituximab and ocrelizumab], alemtuzumab, fingolimod, and daclizumab) were excluded.