Introduction: Anti-aquaporin-4 antibody-positive (AQP4-Ab+) neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) is a complement-mediated autoimmune disease in which unpredictable and relapsing attacks on the central nervous system cause irreversible and accumulating damage. Comparative efficacy of new NMOSD therapies, such as ravulizumab, with established therapies is critical in making informed treatment decisions.
Methods: Efficacy of ravulizumab relative to established AQP4-Ab+ NMOSD treatments, such as eculizumab, inebilizumab, and satralizumab, was evaluated in a Bayesian network meta-analysis (NMA). Data were extracted from trials identified by a systematic literature review. The final evidence base consisted of 17 publications representing five unique and global studies (PREVENT, N-MOmentum, SAkuraSky, SAkuraStar, and CHAMPION-NMOSD). The primary endpoint was time-to-first relapse; other outcomes included annualized relapse rates (ARRs).
Results: For patients receiving monotherapy (monoclonal antibody only), ravulizumab was associated with a lower risk of relapse than inebilizumab (hazard ratio [HR] 0.09, 95% credible interval [CrI] 0.02, 0.57) or satralizumab (HR 0.08, 95% CrI 0.01, 0.55) and was comparable to eculizumab (HR 0.86, 95% Crl 0.16, 4.52). Ravulizumab + immunosuppressive therapy (IST) was associated with a lower risk of relapse than satralizumab + IST (HR 0.15, 95% CrI 0.03, 0.78); the comparison with eculizumab + IST suggested no difference. No patients treated with inebilizumab received background IST and were thus excluded from analysis. The ARR with ravulizumab monotherapy was 98% lower compared with inebilizumab (rate ratio [RR] 0.02, 95% Crl 0.00, 0.38) and satralizumab (RR 0.02, 95% Crl 0.00, 0.42) monotherapies. The ARR with ravulizumab ± IST showed the strongest treatment-effect estimates compared with other interventions.
Conclusion: In the absence of head-to-head randomized controlled trials, NMA results suggest ravulizumab, a C5 inhibitor, is likely to be more effective in preventing NMOSD relapse in patients with AQP4-Ab+ NMOSD when compared with other treatments having different methods of action.
Keywords: Aquaporin-4; Eculizumab; Inebilizumab; Network meta-analysis; Neuromyelitis optica; Ravulizumab; Satralizumab.
Anti-aquaporin-4 antibody-positive neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder, also called AQP4-Ab+ NMOSD, is a rare autoimmune disease that causes repeated episodes of symptoms such as blindness, arm/leg weakness, painful spasms, vomiting, and hiccups, among other symptoms. Each episode can cause nervous system damage to worsen, making it more difficult to recover back to regular abilities. Repeated episodes are likely to cause permanent damage, such as blindness and paralysis. Medical treatments that reduce episodes also reduce the damage and the chances symptoms will become permanent. One treatment, ravulizumab, is being studied to treat adults with AQP4-Ab+ NMOSD. This analysis looked at information from published clinical studies to compare ravulizumab with three other treatments (eculizumab, inebilizumab, and satralizumab) to determine how well each treatment reduced NMOSD episodes. There are no studies that have tested all four treatments in one study. Here, the treatments were compared by a method used to estimate the likelihood of a treatment being better than the others. While all four treatments successfully reduced episodes in their own studies, this analysis predicts that ravulizumab would likely be best in preventing episodes compared with inebilizumab or satralizumab when used alone or in combination with other immunosuppressive treatments. These findings, in consideration along with other relevant factors such as cost, safety, dosing delivery method, and frequency of treatment, may help doctors and patients decide what is the best treatment option for each individual patient to prevent attacks in adults with AQP4-Ab+ NMOSD.
© 2024. The Author(s).