AAN: Monoclonal Antibodies for MS During Breastfeeding Not Harmful

TUESDAY, March 12, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- For mothers with multiple sclerosis or neuromyelitis optica spectrum disease, receipt of monoclonal antibodies (mAb) during breastfeeding is not associated with infant hospitalization, systemic antibiotic use, developmental delay, or weight at follow-up, according to a study scheduled for presentation at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, to be held from April 13 to 18 in Denver.

Laura Witt, from St. Joseph Hospital at Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany, and colleagues examined infant development during the first 36 months of life for infants of mothers receiving mAb for multiple sclerosis. A total of 183 mAb breastfed-exposed infants whose mothers had a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis or neuromyelitis optica spectrum disease were compared to 183 unexposed infants (controls). mAb exposure during breastfeeding started on a median of 19 days postpartum.

Breastfeeding participants most often received natalizumab, followed by ocrelizumab, rituximab, and ofatumumab (68.31, 18.58, 6.01, and 5.46 percent, respectively); while breastfeeding, two cases switched from natalizumab to ocrelizumab and one from rituximab to ocrelizumab. The researchers found that annual infant hospitalization, annual systemic antibiotic use, developmental delay, or weight at follow-up visits were not associated with mAb-exposed breastfeeding.

"Our data show infants exposed to these medications through breastfeeding experienced no negative effects on health or development within the first three years of life," coauthor Kerstin Hellwig, M.D., also from St. Joseph Hospital, said in a statement.

The study was partly funded by pharmaceutical companies.

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