Abstract
Few published studies addressed real-world clinical experience with fingolimod especially in the Middle East region.
To review our clinical experience with fingolimod at a specialized academic MS center in Lebanon.
All patients treated with fingolimod at the MS Center between October 2011 and January 2015 were retrospectively identified.
A total of 122 patients were included. The first dose observation was uneventful in 98.8% of patients. Annualized relapse rate decreased from 1.16 pre-treatment to 0.29 post-treatment representing a relative risk reduction of 75% (p<0.0001). The proportion of patients with no new T2 or enhancing lesions was 66.3%. Seventy-six (62.3%) patients experienced adverse events with lymphopenia, increase liver enzymes, urinary tract infections and fatigue being the most common.
Our cohort confirms the effectiveness and safety of fingolimod in a real world setting.