MS Speaks

In this article (link below) almost looks as if taking an interferon or glatiramer acetate (Copaxone) just might have some protective effect against COVID-19.

Type 1 IFN

Recombinant type 1 IFN drugs are used, among other indications, as first-line treatment in MS (IFN-β).
Many studies have evaluated the impact of treatment with type 1 IFN on coronaviruses infection, mostly showing a therapeutic effect (S-Table 1 and S-Figure 1). Based on the antiviral effects of type I IFN, and on the dampening of type I IFN responses in the host by coronaviruses, MS patients who are being treated with IFN-β are likely to be at lower risk of COVID-19 or of its severe forms (Table 1 and S-Table 2). In line with this hypothesis, the Italian cohort showed a decreased frequency of MS patients treated with IFN-β in the COVID-19 cohort as compared to the expected frequency in the Italian market, indicating a possible protective effect of IFN on the risk of symptom development.36An updated analysis of the French cohort,34 presented at the MS Virtual Conference 2020, revealed a protective effect on the risk of severe COVID-19 in patients treated with IFN-β or glatiramer acetate (GA).

From Multiple Sclerosis Journal (November 19, 2020)--"COVID-19 in patients with multiple sclerosis undergoing disease-modifying treatments":


https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1352458520971817

No reply from the MS Society yet, and the neurologist is putting through a rx for Copaxone even though I still have to find out about whether I have insurance coverage for it.


I've spent the better part of today on the phone and the Internet trying to thread my way through the insurance maze.


What is covered and on what terms is still an open question. I keep getting different answers. 


I'll be on the phone some more tomorrow.


Copaxone or the generic form, glatiramer acetate, is going to return to my life but this time I'll do only three shots a week instead of seven.


The neuro didn't think that I should expect it to prevent COVID-19. But I do seem some point in returning to it, now that the dosage routine sounds easier.


The neuro could be wrong on that, too. She was wrong when she declared that Copaxone is an immunosuppressant. It's not. She was wrong when she said I could expect "flulike symptoms" from Copaxone. No. Copaxone doesn't cause flulike symptoms. Avonex certainly does but Copaxone doesn't.


I know because I've been on both of them. But I'm not going to argue with the neuro. I'll just take the rx and hope that she doesn't insist on more MRIs.

Similar findings here in a paper presented at the annual ECTRIMS/ACTRIMS conference in fall 2020--"Baseline patient characteristics, MS severity affect COVID-19 outcomes."  The linked site probably will require registration to see the article, but a couple of parts of it are given here:


https://www.healio.com/news/neurology/20201014/baseline-patient-characteristics-ms-severity-impact-covid19-outcomes


This part in particular:

Researchers also found that receipt of immunomodulatory disease-modifying therapies (DMTs), including interferon and glatiramer acetate, independently correlated with reduced COVID-19 severity, though they did not demonstrate a link between other DMTs, including immunosuppressive therapies, and COVID-19 severity.

And this:

Louapre and colleagues included 405 patients (mean age, 44.7 years; women, n = 293; mean disease duration, 13.4 years) in their analysis. Nearly 20% of patients (19.3%; n = 78) had a COVID-19 severity score equal to or greater than 3 and 12 patients (3%) died of COVID-19. The mean EDSS was 2 (range, 0-9.5) and 326 patients (80.5%) were receiving DMT.

The researchers found that patients who were not receiving DMT were more likely to have a COVID-19 severity score of 3 or greater compared with those who received treatment with DMT (39.2% vs. 14.4%; P < .001).

This article reports on material presented at the 2021 ACTRIMS conference by Amit Bar-Or, MD, a paper entitled "Vaccination responses in setting of different types of MS DMTs."

From MedPage Today (March 1, 2021)--"Juggling COVID Vax, MS Therapies Proves Challenging":


https://www.medpagetoday.com/meetingcoverage/actrims/91417