IV efgartigimod improves daily functionality in generalized myasthenia gravis

Key takeaways:

• The study featured 11 individuals with AChR+ generalized myasthenia gravis given IV efgartigimod.
• Nine of 11 participants experienced meaningful reduction in MG-ADL score after two doses.

DENVER — Treatment with IV efgartigimod improved functionality for individuals with acetylcholine receptor-positive generalized myasthenia gravis, according to a poster from the American Academy of Neurology annual meeting.

“We wanted to get some information as far as a fixed dosing cycle for efgartigimod since it is such a new medication, there is limited data describing real-world experience and application with the drug,” Alexis King, from the A.T. Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona, told Healio.

King and colleague Raghav Govindarajan, MD, a neurologist at HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Illinois, attempted to describe the clinical experience of IV efgartigimod, which was first approved for use in 2021 to treat patients with acetylcholine receptor-positive (AChR+) generalized myasthenia gravis (gMG).

Their study included 11 adults (mean age 57.36 years; 54.5% female) whose daily functionality was measured with the MG Activities of Daily Living (MG_ADL) scale over the course of a 2- to 4-week pre-dosing regimen.

All participants were then given IV efgartigimod for 1 week, then had their MG-ADL measured post-cycle ahead of a second dosing cycle of IV efgartigimod, before a final post-cycle MG-ADL measurement.

In the pre-dosing MG-ADL measurement, three individuals registered a score in double digits, where zero represented the least functional impact and 24 the most severe. In the first post-cycle assessment, one participant registered a double-digit score and in the final measurement, the same individual registered a double-digit score.

Eight of the 11 participants experienced a “clinically meaningful” reduction (change of at least two points) in MG-ADL score after the first dosing cycle, while nine of the 11 participants recorded a clinically meaningful MG-ADL score reduction after the second dosing cycle.

The drug was "well-tolerated," with two participants recording “mild” cases of headache and upper respiratory infection, the researchers wrote.

“Neurologic disease has such an impact on the daily lives of all our patients, thinking about the impact of the inability to perform daily functions,” King told Healio. “This filled a need in providing us with information for improving those daily activities.”