Home » Covid: Merck, new data on multiple sclerosis drug

Covid: Merck, new data on multiple sclerosis drug

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Rome, April 26 (beraking latest news Health) – Merck today announced a new analysis from the Magnify-Ms substudy. The analysis shows, in patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis (Smr) treated with Cladribine * tablets, a specific immune repopulation pattern, which could contribute to their ability to fight infections and develop protective antibodies following vaccinations. The data was presented at the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) Annual Congress, which took place in virtual mode from April 17-22.

In the study – a note reports – the reduction in memory B cells occurred as early as one month after taking Cladribine tablets with the lowest sustained levels for up to 12 months, while naive B cells, which are typically needed for generation of antibody responses after vaccination, they began to recover immediately. Previously shared data from the Magnify-Ms study indicated that patients treated with the drug are able to develop responses to influenza and chickenpox vaccines, regardless of lymphocyte counts.

“The results presented at AAN improve our understanding of how Cladribine tablets affect the immune system and how it can exert a therapeutic effect in patients with multiple sclerosis, while repopulating the cells that support immune responses,” Heinz Wiendl pointed out. MD, Department of Neurology with Institute of Translational Neurology, University of Muenster, Germany. “These important data indicate that, in addition to managing relapses and progression of multiple sclerosis, patients treated with Cladribine tablets may be able to simultaneously produce a adequate response to the vaccine – a particularly important discovery at this time. “

Furthermore, a recent independent Israeli study, published in ‘Therapeutic advances in neurological disorders’ – reports the Merck note – shows that patients who took Cladribine tablets were able to generate Covid-19 antibodies following Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine / BioNTech administered 4.4 months after the last Cladribine tablet intake. Observational analysis showed that in all 23 patients with relapsing remitting MS treated with Cladribine tablets who received Pfizer / BioNTech mRNA vaccine developed a protective SarS-CoV-2 IgG antibody response similar to the comparator group of patients with SM who did not receive immunomodulatory treatments and to the group of healthy subjects.

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The humoral response to the anti Covid-19 vaccine – continues the Merck note – was independent of the lymphocyte count. These results appeared unique to Cladribine tablets compared to other highly effective MS therapies examined in the same study. No unexpected safety findings have been identified after the first or second dose of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine in SM patients, according to further recent work published in Multiple Sclerosis Journal.

“Helping patients treated with Cladribine tablets to live their lives as normally as possible during a global pandemic is of the utmost importance to us,” said Danny Bar-Zohar, Global Head of Development, Merck’s Healthcare business. easy-to-manage oral mode of administration, the proven efficacy and well-characterized safety profile of Cladribine tablets, the newly produced data indicate initial and encouraging evidence on the ability of these patients to generate an adequate antibody response to Covid-19 vaccination, which is so important to them ”.

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