Natalizumab for the Treatment of People With Inflammatory Demyelination Suggestive of Multiple Sclerosis, or Definite Multiple Sclerosis, at First Presentation (AttackMS)

Last updated: March 14, 2025
Sponsor: Queen Mary University of London
Overall Status: Suspended

Phase

2

Condition

Memory Loss

Multiple Sclerosis

Neurologic Disorders

Treatment

Placebo

Tysabri Injectable Product

Clinical Study ID

NCT05418010
1003822
2021-002255-11
  • Ages 18-45
  • All Genders

Study Summary

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory & degenerative disease of the central nervous system (CNS) Recent data from the MS Base registry demonstrated an average delay of 152 - 215 days between first presentation and the diagnosis of MS, and more than one year until Disease Modifying Treatment (DMT) begins.

Evidence suggests that shutting down inflammation using highly effective DMTs early after diagnosis leads to better long term clinical outcomes The AttackMS trial will test the effect of starting a highly-effective DMT licensed for MS, Tysabri® (Natalizumab 300mg), within a short time - 14 days - after symptom onset.

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Participant has provided informed consent.

  2. Age 18-45 years

  3. Participant with CIS or MS at first presentation.

  4. Participants show two or more lesions on T2 weighted MRI suggestive ofdemyelination.

  5. Participant is willing and able to comply with clinical visits and proceduresoutlined in the study protocol.

Exclusion

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Hypersensitivity to Tysabri® or to any of the following excipients;

  • Sodium phosphate, monobasic, monohydrate

  • Sodium phosphate, dibasic, heptahydrate

  • Sodium chloride

  • Polysorbate 80 (E433)

  • Water for injections

  1. Evidence of two or more chronic demyelinating hypo-intensities brain lesions 'blackholes' on gadolinium-enhanced screening MRI.

  2. Participants with increased risk for opportunistic infections, includingimmunocompromised participants (those currently receiving immunosuppressivetherapies or those immunocompromised by prior therapies).

  3. Combination with other Disease Modifying Treatments..

  4. Known active malignancies, except for participants with cutaneous basal cellcarcinoma.

  5. Implants such as pacemaker, aneurysm clip in the brain and MRI-incompatibleprosthetic heart valves.

  6. Significant comorbidities such as cardiac failure, renal failure, uncontrolleddiabetes and uncontrolled hypercholesterolemia.

  7. History of stroke, thrombosis and/or myocardial infarction.

  8. Any other infection deemed, in the assessment of the PI or sub-investigator,clinically significant.

  9. Claustrophobia

  10. Pregnancy or breastfeeding

Study Design

Total Participants: 40
Treatment Group(s): 2
Primary Treatment: Placebo
Phase: 2
Study Start date:
December 01, 2022
Estimated Completion Date:
January 31, 2028

Study Description

MS is a disease of the central nervous system affecting over 130,000 people in the UK and more than 2.8 million worldwide. Left untreated, MS leads to chronic disability in the large majority of cases.

CIS is a common first manifestation of MS: There is a more than 80% chance of MS in somebody presenting with CIS provided one or more "lesions" characteristic of inflammatory demyelination can be detected on a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain. The presence of at least two such lesions is an inclusion criterion for this study. Inflammatory demyelination is the process by which cells of your body's own immune system attack the insulation sheath (= myelin) of nerve fibres (= axons) in the central nervous system.

Once a diagnosis of MS has been confirmed, many people with this disease will be eligible for what is called "disease-modifying treatment" (DMT) on the NHS. Such treatment targets the immune cells that are involved in the inflammatory attack against the myelin sheaths and nerve fibres. However, while in a small number of cases, a diagnosis of MS can be made instantaneously it regularly takes week, months and, sometimes even longer, to fulfil the formal diagnostic criteria of MS. This diagnostic delay inevitably leads to delays in starting disease-modifying treatment.

Using a trial concept geared towards rapid assessment of eligibility, and a disease-modifying treatment that is both highly effective and generally well tolerated in people with MS, AttackMS will test whether:

(i) It is feasible to recruit participants with a diagnosis of CIS at high risk of MS, or definite MS, at first presentation for treatment within 14 days of symptom onset and (ii) Such early treatment improves myelin repair at 3 months, as measured using a special MRI technology called magnetisation transfer ratio (MTR).

Natalizumab (Tysabri®) is a medication currently approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) as a disease-modifying treatment for adults with rapidly evolving severe (RES) relapsing MS. We are looking to test safety and efficacy of treatment with Tysabri® 300mg, given through a needle in a vein (intravenous infusion), over 20 weeks and to advance mechanistic understanding in treating people with first presentation of CIS or MS.

AttackMS will test the effect of starting a highly-effective DMT licensed for MS, Tysabri®, within a short time - 14 days - after symptom onset. The main objective is to test Tysabri®, given intravenously every 4 weeks over 20 weeks, for safety, efficacy, and to advance the mechanistic understanding of the earliest events in inflammatory demyelination/MS

Connect with a study center

  • Royal London Hospital

    London, E1 1FR
    United Kingdom

    Site Not Available

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