Expert Consult Series in Multiple Sclerosis"Updates, Clinical Scenarios, and Future Directions - Activity 4: An emerging therapeutic class in MS

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic immune-modulated inflammatory and neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system. Advances in understanding have led to the development and approval of multiple disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) that offer established safety and efficacy profiles, a variety of mechanisms of action, and different routes of administration to better match an individual patient’s clinical needs, preferences, and tolerance for risk. Issues that have come to the forefront with the approval of more effective therapies include the risk for infection and vaccination requirements as well as optimizing subsequent DMTs when switching is required. When selecting DMTs, it is important to distinguish among multiple therapies in the same class, such as sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) receptor modulators, to select the optimal therapy for each patient. Furthermore, novel agents"and classes"are in clinical trials for MS. The rapid pace of advances in this field, however, poses significant challenges to clinicians as they try to keep abreast of evolving awareness of the disease state and strategies for managing patients. The modules in this Phone-a-Friend^TMseries will address this need by offering learners the opportunity to hear faculty experts as they engage in data-driven conversations providing practical guidance on a range of key topics in the field of MS, including switching therapies, infection risk, and emerging therapies.