Inebilizumab may be useful in elevating quality of life among patients with myasthenia gravis (MG), according to research recently presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine.
Inebilizumab is a monoclonal antibody that is used to treat two rare autoimmune diseases, neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder and immunoglobulin G4-related disease. Its potential to help patients with generalized MG is currently being researched in the phase 3 MINT clinical trial.
Researchers gave 119 patients inebilizumab, and 119 a placebo. Patients with anti-acetylcholine receptor antibody-positive (AChR+) MG were treated for 52 weeks, while patients with anti-muscle-specific kinase antibody-positive (MuSK+) MG were treated for 26 weeks.
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The researchers asked patients to assess their overall health using the Patient Global Impression of Change scale. At week 26, almost 40% of patients with AChR+ MG who took inebilizumab reported they were “much improved,” compared to 23% of those taking a placebo. Among patients with MuSK+ MG, 50% of those taking inebilizumab reported the same improvement, compared to 33% of those taking a placebo.
At 52 weeks, 21% of patients with AChR+ MG described themselves as “very improved.” Only 8% of the placebo group gave this rating.
The researchers also assessed patients’ quality of life using the Myasthenia Gravis Quality of Life-15 Revised (MGQOL-15r) score. Among patients with AChR+ MG, higher levels of improvement were seen in those who took inebilizumab compared with the placebo: after adjustments with a statistical model, the average score had dropped by 4.9 points (compared to 3.6 points among the placebo group), meaning these patients had less disease burden than previously. By week 52, the average score had dropped by 5.7 points (compared to 1.8 in those taking the placebo).
“[These] findings suggest that inebilizumab treatment has a positive impact on patient-reported quality of life and health change in [generalized] MG,” the authors of the study concluded.
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