Senior Editor
Women with MS who continue their disease-modifying therapy, or DMT, throughout pregnancy have lower hospitalization costs and use, compared to those who discontinued their therapy.
That finding comes from a retrospective study conducted by Walgreens in collaboration with AllianceRx Walgreens Prime to understand how non-adherence to these women’s DMTs would impact healthcare cost and utilization over a two-year period. The researchers presented the findings on Feb. 26 at the virtual Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis Forum 2021.
MS is a chronic condition affecting the central nervous system that affects roughly 2.3 million people worldwide, with women affected two to three times as often as men. According to the National MS Society, none of the DMTs are approved for use during pregnancy yet discontinuing DMTs may cause relapse of disease. However, for certain DMTs, studies do indicate that some patients continue their DMT if advised by their healthcare provider.