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Liver injury associated with the ß-interferons for MS

A comparison between the three products

From the University of British Columbia (Drs. Tremlett, Yoshida, and Oger); and Divisions of Neurology (Dr. Tremlett) and Gastroenterology (Dr. Yoshida), Department of Medicine, Vancouver Hospital & Health Sciences Centre, Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Helen L. Tremlett, Department of Medicine, Division of Neurology, Vancouver Hospital & Health Sciences Center, UBC Site, S159-2211 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 2B5 Canada; e-mail: tremlett{at}interchange.ubc.ca

A population-based retrospective chart review of the biochemical liver tests of 844 patients with multiple sclerosis prescribed a ß-interferon (IFNß) product in British Columbia, Canada was performed between 1995 and 2001. Overall, 36.9% (243/659) of patients developed new elevations of alanine aminotransferase. All the IFNßs caused elevated aminotransferase levels compared with pretreatment levels (p < 0.005) and were higher than reported in clinical trials. Their relative effect on aminotransferases can be approximated as IFNß-1b(subcutaneous [SC]) = IFNß-1a(SC) > IFNß-1a(IM).

Received April 14, 2003. Accepted in final form September 26, 2003.

Additional material related to this article can be found on the Neurology Web site. Go to www.neurology.org and scroll down the Table of Contents for the February 24 issue to find the title link for this article.

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