Dr Thomas Frisell Addresses Cardiac Safety of Ozanimod Versus Fingolimod in MS

Patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) have a generally increased risk of cardiovascular disease, and some evidence is emerging that disease-modifying treatments may alter this risk. Thomas Frisell, PhD, coordinator of the Clinical Epidemiology Unit, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, discusses whether newer treatments for MS, such as ozanimod, may present an improved cardiac safety profile for patients with MS versus older treatments, such as fingolimod.

Transcript

Do newer drugs like ozanimod present an improved cardiac safety profile for patients with MS?

So that has been argued, because that’s a drug that works like fingolimod, but is more specific, or selective, so it should have less of that transient heartrate effect. And that sounds good, right?

Well, in our data, we didn’t see an increased risk of cardiovascular disease in fingolimod either, so I’m not sure. Our data wasn’t perhaps big enough, and we didn’t have enough follow-up to really rule out increased risk on fingolimod. So it’s too early to say whether the new therapies will actually be beneficial compared to fingolimod, I would say.