— Vaccine effectiveness may be reduced in MS patients on S1P modulators, data suggest
Multiple sclerosis (MS) patients treated with cladribine (Mavenclad) or teriflunomide (Aubagio) had appropriate humoral response against SARS-CoV-2 a month after vaccination, but those treated with anti-CD20 therapies or sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor (S1P) modulators did not, a Swiss study showed.
Of 120 MS patients at the Neurocenter of Southern Switzerland who received either the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech (Comirnaty) mRNA vaccine, the percent remaining seronegative 21-35 days after the second dose was 48.2% in a group receiving anti-CD20 therapies, 33.3% in the S1P modulator group, 7.1% in the cladribine group, 0% in the teriflunomide group, and 0% in a group that did not receive any MS therapy, reported Claudio Gobbi, MD, of Neurocenter of Southern Switzerland in Lugano, and co-authors, in a JAMA Neurology research letter.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) patients treated with cladribine (Mavenclad) or teriflunomide (Aubagio) had appropriate humoral response against SARS-CoV-2 a month after vaccination, but those treated with anti-CD20 therapies or sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor (S1P) modulators did not, a Swiss study showed.
Of 120 MS patients at the Neurocenter of Southern Switzerland who received either the Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech (Comirnaty) mRNA vaccine, the percent remaining seronegative 21-35 days after the second dose was 48.2% in a group receiving anti-CD20 therapies, 33.3% in the S1P modulator group, 7.1% in the cladribine group, 0% in the teriflunomide group, and 0% in a group that did not receive any MS therapy, reported Claudio Gobbi, MD, of Neurocenter of Southern Switzerland in Lugano, and co-authors, in a JAMA Neurology research letter.
A total of 58 patients were on anti-CD20 drugs, including 32 on ocrelizumab (Ocrevus), 25 on rituximab (Rituxan), and one on ofatumumab (Kesimpta). Nine people were on S1P modulators, including seven on fingolimod (Gilenya) and two on ozanimod (Zeposia). The cohort also had 15 MS patients on cladribine, 24 on teriflunomide, and 14 on no therapy. Serum samples were collected within 2 weeks before the first vaccine dose and a median of 26 days after the second dose.
In a related brief report, also published in JAMA Neurology, researchers in Israel showed that MS patients on ocrelizumab generated comparable SARS-CoV-2-specific T-cell responses with healthy controls but had lower antibody response after the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
“Given the potential role of T cells in protection from severe disease, this is reassuring and will help physicians develop consensus guidelines regarding MS treatment in the era of the COVID-19 pandemic,” wrote Adi Vaknin-Dembinsky, MD, PhD, of Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem, and colleagues.
To read this article in its entirety click here: Another MS Drug Class Causes Concern.