Using disease-modifying treatments in multiple sclerosis: Association of British Neurologists (ABN) 2024 guidance

Waqar Rashid; Olga Ciccarelli; Siobhan M Leary; Tarunya Arun; Anisha Doshi; Nikos Evangelou; Helen L Ford; Jeremy Hobart; Saiju Jacob; Paolo Antonio Muraro; Katy Murray; Jacqueline Palace; Ruth Dobson; Association Of British Neurologists Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroinflammation Advisory Group

doi:10.1136/pn-2024-004228

Using disease-modifying treatments in multiple sclerosis: Association of British Neurologists (ABN) 2024 guidance

Pract Neurol. 2024 Nov 11:pn-2024-004228. doi: 10.1136/pn-2024-004228. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Waqar Rashid¹, Olga Ciccarelli^{2

3}, Siobhan M Leary⁴, Tarunya Arun⁵, Anisha Doshi^{2

6}, Nikos Evangelou⁷, Helen L Ford^{8

9}, Jeremy Hobart¹⁰, Saiju Jacob^{11

12}, Paolo Antonio Muraro¹³, Katy Murray^{14

15}, Jacqueline Palace¹⁶, Ruth Dobson^{17

18}; Association Of British Neurologists Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroinflammation Advisory Group

Affiliations

¹ St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK waqarrashid@nhs.net.
² NMR Research Unit, Queen Square Multiple Sclerosis Centre, University College London Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, UK.
³ NIHR UCLH BRC, London, UK.
⁴ UCLH NHS Foundation Trust, National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London, UK.
⁵ University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, Coventry, UK.
⁶ Darent Valley Hospital, Dartford, UK.
⁷ Mental Health and Clinical Neurosciences Academic Unit, University of Nottingham School of Medicine, Nottingham, UK.
⁸ Leeds Centre for Neurosciences, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Leeds, UK.
⁹ University of Leeds Faculty of Medicine and Health, Leeds, UK.
¹⁰ Peninsula Medical School, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK.
¹¹ Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
¹² Department of Neurology, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, UK.
¹³ Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, London, UK.
¹⁴ Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Clinic, University of Edinburgh Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, UK.
¹⁵ Department of Neurology, Forth Valley Royal Hospital, Larbert, UK.
¹⁶ Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, UK.
¹⁷ Department of Neurology, Royal London Hospital for Integrated Medicine, London, UK.
¹⁸ Centre for Preventative Neurology, Wolfson Institute of Population Health, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK.

PMID: 39532459
DOI: 10.1136/pn-2024-004228

Abstract

The Association of British Neurologists last published guidelines on disease-modifying treatment (DMT) in multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2015. Since then, additional DMTs have been licensed and approved for prescribing within the National Health Service for relapsing-remitting MS, early primary progressive MS and active secondary progressive MS. This updated guidance provides a consensus-based approach to using DMTs. We provide recommendations for eligibility, starting, monitoring, switching and stopping of DMTs; pregnancy; equitable access to DMT; autologous haemopoietic stem-cell transplantation; and use of generics. We highlight best practice where it exists and discuss future priorities.

Keywords: MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS.

Publication types

Review