ESG trial of beta-interferon in secondary progressive MS
Last reviewed 01/2018
The ESG trial of "Betaferon" (interferon beta-1b) in secondary progressive multiple sclerosis was a multi-centre double-blind placebo controlled trial.
718 patients with EDSS scores of 3.0-6.5 received either 8 MIU of interferon beta-1b or placebo.
The primary endpoint was the time to confirmed progression of disease (defined as a permanent increase of 1 point on the EDSS score).
At a planned two year efficacy assessment it was found that the treatment group had a highly significant increase in the time to progression (p=0.00008). The delay was seen in all patient groups. Significant benefits were observed in other clinical endpoints and all MRI criteria.
Reference:
- 1) Placebo-controlled multiventre randomised trial of interferon beta-1b in treatment of secondary progressive multiple sclerosis. European Study Group on interferon beta-1b in secondary progressive MS. Lancet 1998, 352, 1491-7.