Twenty Years of Subcutaneous Interferon-Beta-1a for Multiple Sclerosis: Contemporary Perspectives

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, progressive, inflammatory disorder of the central nervous system. Relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS), the most common form of the disease, is characterized by transient neurological dysfunction with concurrent accumulation of disability. Over the past three decades, disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) capable of reducing the frequency of relapses and slowing disability worsening have been studied and approved for use in patients with RRMS. The first DMTs were interferon-betas (IFN-beta s), which were approved in the 1990s. Among them was IFN-beta-1a for subcutaneous (sc) injection (Rebif (R)), which was approved for the treatment of MS in Europe and Canada in 1998 and in the USA in 2002. Twenty years of clinical data and experience have supported the efficacy and safety of IFN-beta-1a sc in the treatment of RRMS, including pivotal trials, real-world data, and extension studies lasting up to 15 years past initial treatment. Today, IFN-beta-1a sc remains an important therapeutic option in clinical use, especially around pregnancy planning and lactation, and may also be considered for aging patients, in which MS activity declines and long-term immunosuppression associated with some alternative therapies is a concern. In addition, IFN-beta-1a sc is used as a comparator in many clinical studies and provides a framework for research into the mechanisms by which MS begins and progresses.