Natalizumab wearing-off symptoms

Abstract

People with multiple sclerosis (MS) being treated with natalizumab often report increased fatigue and other symptoms a week or so before their next scheduled infusion, known as a “wearing-off” phenomenon. In a prior cross-sectional study of 100 natalizumab-treated patients, 57% endorsed feeling worse at the end of the current natalizumab dosing cycle than at the beginning; an additional 10% had experienced such symptoms previously.1 Among those who completed serial assessments, health-related quality of life, fatigue, and depression scores were meaningfully worse at the time of, vs 7 days after, an infusion.