Patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis (RMS) treated with short-course cladribine tablets (CladT; Mavenclad; EMD Serono), an FDA-approved disease-modifying therapy for RMS, showed improved or stabilized cognitive processing speed (CPS) according to the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT) at 4 years of follow-up, according to pooled data from the CLARIFY-MS extension (NCT04776213) and MAGNIFY-MS extension (NCT04783935) clinical studies.1 The data were presented at the 2026 Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS), held February 5-7 in San Diego, California.
According to the ACTRIMS abstract, the analysis included 280 patients from CLARIFY-MS extension and 219 patients from MAGNIFY-MS extension, a total of 499 patients who had at least 4 years of follow-up. At 48 months, the whole group showed an improvement of +1.79 points (P<.0001) on SDMT from baseline. In addition, the subgroup of patients aged less than 50 years showed a +2.22 point improvement on SDMT (P<.0001). An improvement of +0.81 points (P=0.7806) was also seen in the subgroup of patients aged more than 50 years, but this finding was not statistically significant.
With a ≥8-point change in SDMT threshold for stability, 86.6% of the whole group showed either improvement or stability at 4 years compared to baseline and only 12.9% showed worsening. On the other hand, with a ≥4-point change in SDMT threshold for stability, 74.4% of the whole group showed either improvement or stability at 4 years compared to baseline and 25.2% showed worsening. First author Bruno Brochet, MD, an emeritus professor of neurology at Université of Bordeaux, France, and colleagues noted that the group of patients aged less than 50 years had a higher proportion of improvement/stability than patients aged more than 50 years at both the ≥8-point threshold (87.4% vs 81.6%) and ≥4-point threshold (75.3% vs 68.3%). Likewise, the group of patients with baseline SDMT scores of less than 53 had a higher proportion of improvement/stability than patients with baseline SDMT scores of 53 or greater at both the ≥8-point threshold (89.6% vs 84.6%) and ≥4-point threshold (80.1% vs 69.6%).
“Overall, most people with RMS treated with CladT either improved or had stabled cognitive function,” Brochet and colleageus wrote in their ACTRIMS poster.1 “Clinically meaningful improvements or stability in CPS were observed over 4 years, particularly in younger people with RMS (less than 50 years) and those with baseline SDMT score below 53 points. These findings suggest long-term benefits of CladT beyond its effects on conventional disability indices, especially when initiated earlier in the disease course.”
Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register...
According to the ACTRIMS abstract, the analysis included 280 patients from CLARIFY-MS extension and 219 patients from MAGNIFY-MS extension, a total of 499 patients who had at least 4 years of follow-up. At 48 months, the whole group showed an improvement of +1.79 points (P<.0001) on SDMT from baseline. In addition, the subgroup of patients aged less than 50 years showed a +2.22 point improvement on SDMT (P<.0001). An improvement of +0.81 points (P=0.7806) was also seen in the subgroup of patients aged more than 50 years, but this finding was not statistically significant.
With a ≥8-point change in SDMT threshold for stability, 86.6% of the whole group showed either improvement or stability at 4 years compared to baseline and only 12.9% showed worsening. On the other hand, with a ≥4-point change in SDMT threshold for stability, 74.4% of the whole group showed either improvement or stability at 4 years compared to baseline and 25.2% showed worsening. First author Bruno Brochet, MD, an emeritus professor of neurology at Université of Bordeaux, France, and colleagues noted that the group of patients aged less than 50 years had a higher proportion of improvement/stability than patients aged more than 50 years at both the ≥8-point threshold (87.4% vs 81.6%) and ≥4-point threshold (75.3% vs 68.3%). Likewise, the group of patients with baseline SDMT scores of less than 53 had a higher proportion of improvement/stability than patients with baseline SDMT scores of 53 or greater at both the ≥8-point threshold (89.6% vs 84.6%) and ≥4-point threshold (80.1% vs 69.6%).
“Overall, most people with RMS treated with CladT either improved or had stabled cognitive function,” Brochet and colleageus wrote in their ACTRIMS poster.1 “Clinically meaningful improvements or stability in CPS were observed over 4 years, particularly in younger people with RMS (less than 50 years) and those with baseline SDMT score below 53 points. These findings suggest long-term benefits of CladT beyond its effects on conventional disability indices, especially when initiated earlier in the disease course.”
Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register...