Dimethyl fumarate (Tecfidera) in the treatment of multiple sclerosis

Dimethyl fumarate (Tecfidera) has been shown to reduce the risk and frequency of relapses in adults with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. In a major study involving more than a thousand adults, a significantly lower proportion of patients who received dimethyl fumarate relapsed within two years than those who received placebo (dummy treatment): 27% versus 46%. In another major study involving more than a thousand adults, patients were given dimethyl fumarate, a placebo, or another drug used to treat multiple sclerosis. The study showed that dimethyl fumarate was more effective than placebo in reducing the number of relapses over two years, to about 0.2 relapses per patient per year.