Safety and Cost Analysis of Immunoglobulin Cessation Trials in Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating...

Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP) is the most common chronic autoimmune neuropathy worldwide. A significant proportion of CIDP patients enter spontaneous or medication-related remission, remaining stable without immunotherapy. Overtreatment of CIDP has clinical and financial implications. We examined performance of IVIg cessation trials in our CIDP cohort and report safety and cost analysis outcomes.

In individuals with CIDP on maintenance IVIg treatment, a cessation trial was proposed in clinically stable patients with a static IVIg regimen over a 12-month period. We explored the proportion who were stable off treatment for 12 or more months and the time to recovery in those who declined and were re-treated. We examined cost implications of this approach.

45/125 individuals met criteria for clinical stability, with median age 58 years, I-RODS 37/48, MRC-SS 69/70 and annual treatment costs £107 000/person. Nine individuals had cessation trials resulting in decline within 2 years prior and were not re-challenged, leaving 36 eligible individuals. 12 of 36 (33.3%) consented to cessation trial and eight of those (66.7%) remained stable off treatment for ≥ 12 months. The successful cessation trials resulted in a cost saving of £855 000/year, with a potential further saving of £1.7 million/year if all the eligible individuals had consented. All patients who deteriorated were rescued to previous baseline on retreatment.

Individuals with CIDP should be counselled about the natural history of the disease and future scheduled, targeted cessation trials. A dedicated clinical infrastructure is vital to safely perform cessation trials.