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| |  READY Trial: Belief in Ability to Self-Inject Copaxone (Glatiramer Acetate) Appears 'Paramount' to Adherence in MS Patients: Presented at ECTRIMS By Bruce Sylvester THESSALONIKI, GREECE -- October 5, 2005 -- Researchers report that pretreatment Multiple Sclerosis Self-Efficacy (MSSE) function score is a significant predictor of adherence to treatment among in treatment-naive patients with MS initiating therapy with Copaxone (glatiramer acetate) PFS (prefilled syringes). "Self-efficacy -- or the individual's belief in their ability to organise and implement the course of action necessary to accomplish a task like self-injection -- is paramount, we found," said investigator Gabriel Pardo, MD, medical director, Multiple Sclerosis Center of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States. Dr. Pardo presented the findings here on September 29th at the 21st Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS). "Those patients who scored highly on self-efficacy on the Multiple Sclerosis Self-Efficacy scale prior to starting therapy were the ones who were more successful at complying with therapy long-term," he said. The researchers evaluated patient self-efficacy as a predictor of individual adherence to Copaxone therapy in patients who were participants in the READY trial, a prospective, multicentre study. The investigators evaluated 233 subjects with relapsing-remitting MS who were new to treatment with Copaxone PFS. Of these, 145 subjects had no prior immunomodulatory therapy experience (tx-naive) and 88 patients had been treated previously with interferon beta (tx-experienced). At baseline, the cohorts differed significantly on both the control and function subscales of the MSSE (P < .0001). Treatment-experienced patients showed less confidence that they could control disease symptoms and perform activities of daily living. Patient adherence to therapy at the end of the first designated treatment period was equivalent in the 2 groups, at 86%. Among adherent patients, "self-efficacy" measures improved in both groups. Among treatment-experienced patients, gains in the MSSE function subscale were statistically significant. In assessing the predictive value of the MSSE score for adherence to Copaxone therapy with PFS at initiation of treatment, the researchers found that self-efficacy was more relevant in subjects who were treatment-naive. "Those who remained adherent had significantly higher initial total scores on the MSSE and higher scores on the control subscale than nonadherers," they wrote in their abstract. Among the treatment-experienced patients, adherers and nonadherers did not differ in their self-efficacy scores at treatment initiation with Copaxone. Regression analyses showed that the pretreatment MSSE function score was a significant predictor of adherence for treatment-naive patients, the researchers concluded.
[Presentation title: The Role of Self-Efficacy in Predicting Adherence to Glatiramer Acetate in Pre-Filled Syringes Among Patients With and Without Prior Treatment Experience With Immunomodulatory Therapy. Poster 327]
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