Trending News Today: Ofatumumab Evaluated Against Aubagio for MS in Head-to-Head Studies

Novartis’ ofatumumab, a medicine already approved to treat leukemia, demonstrated positive results in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) in recent clinical studies, Reuters reported. According to the article, ofatumumab reduced annual relapses better than Sanofi’s teriflunomide (Aubagio) in 2 head-to-head studies against relapsing forms of MS. Detailed study results are due at an MS conference in Sweden next month, the article reported.

A new study showed that 5 years of menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) significantly increases breast cancer incidence in women, The American Journal of Managed Care reported. According to the article, the study examined a case group of 143,887 postmenopausal women with invasive breast cancer from 58 epidemiological studies worldwide and compared results with a control group of 424,972 women without breast cancer. Overall, the results indicated that women who undergo 5 years of MHT, starting at age 50, showed a significant increase in breast cancer incidence and can remain at risk for more than 10 years, the article reported.

Extending statin therapy to all patients with borderline risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) could be cost-effective and prevent most ASCVD events in patients with high LDL-C, MD Magazine reported. According to the article, the study used a model that estimates lifetime individual-level survival, health-related quality of life, and costs of different statin treatment strategies. Overall, the results showed that expanding statins to individuals with borderline risk would prevent an estimated 1200 to 5400 ASCVD events, increase quality-adjusted life-years from 1200 to 3200 per 1 million individuals, and provide cost-savings compared with current standards.