Hoffmann FA, et al. –The researchers performed this EXCHANGE study to assess patient satisfaction with interferon β–1b (IFN β–1b) treatment, administered using ExtaviPro 30G, a new auto–injector, in a real–world setting. They proposed that administering IFN β–1b with the new ExtaviPro auto–injector significantly improved overall patient satisfaction, including satisfaction associated with effectiveness, side–effects, and convenience in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients.

Methods

• The researchers conducted this 26-week, open-label, prospective, non-interventional, observational, multi-country multi-centre study.
• They enrolled patients with MS who had been treated with IFN β-1b or other disease-modifying therapies with a self-administered auto-injector for ≥3 months and who were planned to switch to IFN β-1b treatment administered using ExtaviPro 30G as part of routine clinical care.
• In this study, patient-reported outcomes included overall patient satisfaction (primary outcome) and satisfaction associated with treatment effectiveness, convenience and side-effects, evaluated using Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medication (TSQM)-14.
• From baseline to Week 26, the changes in TSQM scores were reported.
• They examined all data using SAS statistical software (version 9.4).

Results

• The researchers enrolled 336 patients.
• Out of them, 324 were included in the analysis.
• Mean ± standard deviation (SD) age of patients was 41.8 ± 11.3 years and 68.2% were women at baseline.
• In this study, the mean ± SD of MS disease duration was 6.9 ± 6.6 years, and the majority of patients (94.1%) had relapsing-remitting MS.
• For overall patient satisfaction at Week 26, the mean ± SD of TSQM score was 75.6 ± 16.46 (baseline, 73.0 ± 17.14; p = 0.0342).
• For patient satisfaction with effectiveness, side-effects and convenience, the mean ± SD of TSQM subscale scores were 75.0 ± 18.65 (baseline, 71.6 ± 19.45; p = 0.0356), 88.5 ± 18.98 (baseline, 82.7 ± 22.93; p = 0.0002) and 77.6 ± 16.72 (baseline, 71.1 ± 17.53; p < 0.0001), respectively.