Video: Landmark Study in The Lancet: Patients Treated With Betaseron(R) After First MS Attack Experienced Significant Delay in MS P...( WAYNE N.J. Aug. 3 /- Patients tre...),Health

WAYNE, N.J., Aug. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Patients treated with Betaseron(R) (interferon beta-1b) shortly after their first clinical MS event or "attack" showed a 40 percent lower risk of developing confirmed disability progression compared to patients in whom treatment was delayed. The results-which were fast-tracked and published in The Lancet this week-provide the first controlled evidence that delaying Betaseron treatment has an effect on later accumulation of disability, as observed over the three-year study period. No other MS therapy has demonstrated this effect in this early patient population.

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The BENEFIT study (Betaseron in Newly Emerging multiple sclerosis For Initial Treatment), sponsored by Bayer HealthCare, compared Betaseron treatment initiated after a first clinical event with delayed treatment. The study was conducted at 98 sites in 20 countries and included a total of 468 patients.

In the study, investigators measured progression of patient disability using a validated scale called EDSS (Expanded Disability Status Scale).(1) Disability progression was defined as an increase in a patient's EDSS score by at least one point that was confirmed after six months. A confirmed increase by one point in the EDSS scale can be an important and robust predictor of permanent and severe disability later in the disease.(2)

"This research has important implications for the way we treat MS because, for the first time, we have controlled data that irrefutably demonstrates the value of early intervention with effective treatment for patients," said Dr. Ludwig Kappos, Professor of Neurology and Clinical Neuroimmunology at the University of Basel, Switzerland and lead investigator of the BENEFIT study. "These findings support the decision to actively treat patients at the first clinical sig
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