Risk of cancer with immunosuppressants compared to immunomodulators in multiple sclerosis: A nested case-control...

The objective was to compare the risk of malignancies in real-world settings between exclusive immunosuppressant (IS) and immunomodulator (IM) use in multiple sclerosis (MS).

A nested case-control study was designed within a new-user cohort of all patients with MS who initiated a first IM or IS between 2008 and 2014, and without cancer history, using the information of the SNDS nationwide French claims database. Incident cancer cases were matched with up to six controls on year of birth, sex, initiation date, and disease risk score of cancer. A conditional logistic regression (odds ratio [95% confidence interval]) was used to compare exclusive IS versus IM use during follow-up and according to three use durations.

From 28 720 newly treated patients with MS, 407 incident cancers were observed during the follow-up with 2324 matched controls. A significant increase in cancer risk was observed for IS compared with IM (1.36 [1.05, 1.77]), with similar increases for the first 2 years of use but not for ≥2 years (1.06 [0.65, 1.75]). Similar increase was also observed for IS with indications other than MS (1.37 [1.04, 1.81]) but not for IS indicated only in MS (1.03 [0.45, 2.34]).

Compared with IM, a 37% increase in cancer risk was observed for IS with indications other than MS and used for a short duration (≤2 years) but not for IS indicated only in MS. The absence of risk for prolonged exposure of IS with indications other than MS is not in favor of a causal relation with these drugs.