Fampridine is not good for every one

Yapundich R, Applebee A, Bethoux F, Goldman MD, Hutton GJ, Mass M, Pardo G, Klingler M, Henney HR 3rd, Blight AR, Carrazana EJ. Evaluation of Dalfampridine Extended Release 5 and 10 mg in Multiple Sclerosis: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Int J MS Care. 2015;17(3):138-45. doi: 10.7224/1537-2073.2014-040

BACKGROUND:Dalfampridine extended-release (ER) tablets, 10 mg twice daily, have been shown to improve walking in people with multiple sclerosis. We evaluated the safety and efficacy of dalfampridine-ER 5 mg compared with 10 mg.
METHODS:Patients were randomized to double-blind treatment with twice-daily dalfampridine-ER tablets, 5 mg (n = 144) or 10 mg (n = 143), or placebo (n = 143) for 4 weeks. Primary efficacy endpoint was change from baseline walking speed by the Timed 25-Foot Walk 3 to 4 hours after the last dose. At 40% of sites, 2-week change from baseline walking distance was measured by the 6-Minute Walk test.
RESULTS: At 4 weeks, walking speed changes from baseline were 0.363, 0.423, and 0.478 ft/s (placebo, dalfampridine-ER 5 mg, and dalfampridine-ER 10 mg, respectively [P = NS]). Post hoc analysis of average changes between pretreatment and on-treatment showed that relative to placebo, only dalfampridine-ER 10 mg demonstrated a significant increase in walking speed (mean ± SE): 0.443 ± 0.042 ft/s versus 0.303 ± 0.038 ft/s (P = .014). Improvement in 6-Minute Walk distance was significantly greater with dalfampridine-ER 10 mg (128.6 ft, P = .014) but not with 5 mg (76.8 ft, P = .308) relative to placebo (41.7 ft). Adverse events were consistent with previous studies. No seizures were reported.

CONCLUSIONS: Dalfampridine-ER 5 and 10 mg twice daily did not demonstrate efficacy on the planned endpoint. Post hoc analyses demonstrated significant increases in walking speed relative to placebo with dalfampridine-ER 10 mg. No new safety signals were observed.
In this study they looked at differing doses of fampridine an did not find improvements in walking speed in the trial. However we know that not everyone will benefit from this drug, some don't in fact the majority don't. So if you do not enrich your trials with responders it is probably the case of "garbage-in" (not the right data analysed) "garbage out" (failed study). The recommended dose worked best

CoI: None

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