Which Disease Modifying Therapy Should I Choose For My MS?

Here is My Question:
I have narrowed it down to Tecfidera and Copaxone and would appreciate a clinical and real life comparison of the two. My concern with Tecfidera is long term effects, since the long term effects of Copaxone are apparent due to its longevity on the market. So Copaxone or Tecfidera and why?

Answer:
This is a really good question but I doubt my answer will be of value to you. I can provide comparisons of the two drugs but advising an individual patient on a particular drug requires knowledge of that individual’s disease characteristics.

So what are the comparisons between Copaxone and Tecfidera? It just so happens that one of the clinical trials of Tecfidera used Copaxone as an unblinded comparison arm so we have some information available to compare these two therapies.  The clinical trials results over two years for each of drugs compared to a group receiving placebo was as follows:

1. Tecfidera reduced relapses by 44%, whereas Copaxone decreased relapses by 29%
2. Tecfidera reduced the development of disability by 21%, whereas Copaxone decreased disability by 7% (neither were statistically significant)
3. Tecfidera decreased the development of new white spots on MRI by 71 %,  whereas Copaxone decrease new white spots by 54%
4. 12% of patients on Tecfidera stopped taking the drug because of side effects, whereas 10% of Copaxone treated patients stopped Copaxone because of side effects.
   

Rip Kinkel