The effect of cladribine tablets in people with more active multiple sclerosis: a plain language summary

What is this summary about? This article summarizes the findings from a previously published article in Current Medical Research and Opinion. Cladribine tablets are an oral treatment for relapsing multiple sclerosis (shortened to MS), that are given for 4 periods of 4 to 5 days over 2 years (for a total of 20 days). In this analysis, researchers looked at the effects of taking either cladribine tablets or placebo (dummy pills) in a group of people with MS who had more active MS inflammation and had participated in a clinical study (called the CLARITY study). Some of these participants had taken prior medicines for MS. What were the results? Researchers found that in people with more active MS, treatment with cladribine tablets led to a lower risk of relapse and there were more people who had no relapses. People also had a lower chance of their MS worsening and had fewer new lesions in the brain. These benefits were seen regardless of whether the participants had prior treatment. What do the results mean? Researchers concluded that in these people with more active MS, treatment with cladribine tablets led to better outcomes over 2 years compared with treatment with placebo tablets, regardless of whether the participants had taken any prior MS treatments.