Highlights
- •Polypharmacy in this alemtuzumab-exposed MS cohort was common.
- •Several of the medication classes initiated with alemtuzumab did not include drugs recommended to minimize or prevent adverse drug reactions.
- •A substantial drug burden was observed both before and after initiating alemtuzumab.
Abstract
Medications are indicated to minimize adverse reactions with alemtuzumab treatment
for multiple sclerosis, but polypharmacy can be problematic. We characterized prescriptions
filled by 160 individuals before, during and after first infusion of alemtuzumab (Dec/2013-Jun/2017).
Ninety-five percent of individuals filled ≥1 prescription(s) before alemtuzumab across
87 unique drug classes, averaging 5.3 prescriptions/person over 47 weeks. During the
infusion period, 90% filled ≥1 prescription(s) for 40 new drug classes, averaging
2.2 prescriptions/person over 5 weeks. Twenty-four percent refilled ≥1 of these prescription(s)
after alemtuzumab across 17 drug classes, averaging 0.3 refills/person over 24 weeks.
There was substantial medication burden throughout the study.
Keywords
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References
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 27, 2020
Accepted:
March 31,
2020
Received:
March 30,
2020
Identification
Copyright
© 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
