Over the past 20 years, the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) and the disease’s information landscape have changed dramatically. The advent of disease-modifying drugs in the mid-1990s heralded a period of rapid advancements in the understanding and management of MS. With the support of magnetic resonance imaging it is now possible to diagnose MS and start treatment at the time of the first clinical attack. Several competitive disease-modifying drugs are now available for MS, and patients and clinicians have to deal with an expanding body of evidence that increases the uncertainty about optimal treatment choice. The project aims to answer two questions:
- What happens when people who receive a diagnosis of MS decide to start treatment with a disease-modifying drug (DMD)?
- Which DMDs have the best efficacy-safety profile?
We will conduct a systematic review of the scientific literature that aims to evaluate the benefits and safety of all the available disease-modifying drugs, comparing them with a placebo and with each other.
The project “Comparative effectiveness and safety of disease-modifying drugs in early treatment of multiple sclerosis” is funded by the Swiss Multiple Sclerosis Society.
