Effectiveness, safety and health-related quality of life of multiple sclerosis patients treated with fingolimod: results from a 12-month, real-world, observational PERFORMS study in the Middle East

BACKGROUND: Evidence on the use of fingolimod in real-world clinical practice and data on patient-reported health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in countries such as the Middle East are sparse. The Prospective Evaluation of Treatment with Fingolimod for Multiple Sclerosis (PERFORMS) study assessed HRQoL and effectiveness and safety of fingolimod in patients with relapsing-remitting multiples sclerosis (RRMS), primarily in Middle Eastern countries. METHODS: This 12-month, observational, multicentre, prospective, real-world study was conducted in patients with RRMS who initiated fingolimod or another approved disease-modifying treatment (DMT) within 4 weeks before study entry. Patients were enrolled in a 2:1 ratio to obtain more data in fingolimod and parallel in other DMTs cohort by physicians during routine medical care. Key study outcomes included HRQoL assessed using MS International QoL (MusiQoL), MS relapses and disability. Safety was assessed throughout the study period. Due to the observational nature of the study, no neuroimaging assessments were mandated and central reading was not performed. RESULTS: Of 249 enrolled patients, 247 were included in the analysis (fingolimod cohort 172; other DMTs cohort 75). Overall, the mean age of patients was 36.5 years, 64.4% were women and ~90% were Caucasians. At baseline, mean MS duration since diagnosis was 7.2 years in the fingolimod and 4.8 years in the other DMTs cohorts. Overall, mean changes in MusiQoL index scores were −2.1 in the fingolimod cohort and −0.7 in the other DMTs cohort at Month 12, but improvement was not significant vs. baseline in both cohorts. Proportion of relapse-free patients increased significantly during the study vs. 0–12 months before the study in the fingolimod cohort (80.2% vs. 24.4%; p < 0.0001). Proportion of patients free from disability progression was 86.5% in the fingolimod cohort. The incidences of AEs were 59.9% and 50.6% in the fingolimod and other DMTs cohorts, respectively. First-dose monitoring of fingolimod observed no cases of symptomatic bradyarrhythmia. Three cases of bradycardia were reported in the fingolimod cohort: one after the first dose and two during the study. No cases of macular oedema were observed during the study. CONCLUSIONS: Fingolimod treatment maintained QoL over 12 months and was effective in reducing relapse rate and disability progression. No new safety findings were observed in this real-world observational study in Middle Eastern countries. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12883-017-0913-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.