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. 2018 Aug 30:22:18-046.
doi: 10.7812/TPP/18-046.

Therapeutic Interferon Interchange in Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis Lowers Health Care and Pharmacy Expenditures with Comparable Safety

Nicole Hahn  1 , Kelsey E Palmer  2 , Shilpa Klocke  3 , Thomas Delate  4
Affiliations

Therapeutic Interferon Interchange in Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis Lowers Health Care and Pharmacy Expenditures with Comparable Safety

Nicole Hahn et al. Perm J. .

Abstract

Introduction: For patients with a less-active (fewer relapses or complete recovery from relapses, less radiologic burden of disease, or no or limited disease-related disability) relapsing form of multiple sclerosis (MS), interferon (IFN) beta-1b subcutaneous is similar in efficacy to IFN beta-1a intramuscular and subcutaneous. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of patient interchange from an IFN beta-1a to IFN beta-1b.

Methods: This was a retrospective, pre-post study of adult patients with relapsing MS who underwent interchange from an IFN beta-1a to IFN beta-1b between April 15, 2014, and April 30, 2015. Health care financial and utilization outcomes between the 6 months before and after interchange were compared, and safety outcomes after interchange were assessed.

Results: A total of 36 primarily white, middle-age, and female patients underwent interchange. Monthly total health care and pharmacy expenditures decreased by approximately 40% and 44%, respectively, from pre-to-post interchange (p < 0.001). Health care utilization was unchanged (p < 0.05). Seven (43.8%) patients underwent interchange back to IFN beta-1a intramuscular. No patients underwent interchange back to IFN beta-1a subcutaneous. The most common adverse effect reported after interchange was injection-site reaction.

Conclusion: Health care expenditures decreased and adverse effects were limited among patients with MS who underwent an interchange from an IFN beta-1a to IFN beta-1b. These findings suggest that a therapeutic interchange between IFNs for patients with less-active MS disease is well tolerated. Further research is needed to determine the impact of such an interchange on disease progression.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure Statement

This study was funded by the Kaiser Permanente Colorado Pharmacy Department. The funder had no role in the study design, collection, analysis and interpretation of data, writing of the report, or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. The author(s) have no other conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Patient dispositions. IFN = interferon; IM = intramuscular; SC = subcutaneous.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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