Characteristics, Adherence, and Persistence Among Multiple Sclerosis Patients Treated With Disease-Modifying Therapies

This retrospective, observational cohort study used administrative claims data contained in the International Business Machines (IBM)® Truven Marketscan® Research Databases to describe demographic, clinical, and treatment characteristics in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) who were initiated on siponimod, and other Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved disease-modifying therapies (DMTs). The study time period was from March 2018 through June 2020 (most recent available data) and included a 1-year baseline period and a variable-length follow-up period (a minimum of 6 months follow-up required for post-index outcomes). The index date was defined as the date of the first claim for siponimod or other MS-specific treatment on or after March 2019. The data analysis was performed on a combination of early view and standard view data. The initial data analysis was from Standard Marketscan data used for patients with index data prior to the year 2019. Both standard view and early view data were used for patients indexed after January 1, 2019. The early view data provided additional visibility as it contains an additional 2 quarters of data compared to standard data.