Ethical standard. This study was carried out in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments. Informed consent was obtained from all patients eligible for the study. This protocol, the Informed Consent Forms, any information to be given to the patient, and relevant supporting information was approved by the IRB/EC of the coordinator Centre and by all the centres participating to the study.
Funding. This is an independent Italian, retrospective, multicentre study supported by Roche® unconditional grant (n. SL43058).
Acknowledgements. Paolo Bellantonio, Giovanna De Luca, Francesca De Robertis, Franco Granella, Alice Laroni, Agostino Nozzolillo, Giuseppe Salemi, Marco Salvetti, Rocco Totaro, Marika Vianello, Mauro Zaffaroni.
Competing Interests Statement.
CGC has received grants for congress participation from Almirall, Biogen Idec, Merck Serono, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi Genzyme, and TEVA.
AB: received compensation for consulting services and partecipation in advisory board and travel grants from Almirall, Biogen, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi- Genzyme and Merck-Serono
VBM: declares no conflict of interest
MC: received compensation for speaking activities, travel grant and participation in advisory board from Biogen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck-Serono, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi-Genzyme
FC has received travel grants from Biogen, Merck, Sanofi-Genzyme, and Roche and research grants from Merck
PC: received honoraria as speaker or travel grants to attend national and international conferences or consultation for advisory boards from Alexion, Almirall, Bayer Schering, Biogen, Cellgene-BMS, Merck-Serono, Teva, Roche, Novartis, Sanofi-Genzyme, Janssen. She is the principal investigator in clinical trials for Roche, Sanofi-Genzyme and Merck Serono
CC: declares no conflict of interest
MD: declares no conflict of interest
MF is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Neurology, Associate Editor of Human Brain Mapping, Neurological Sciences, and Radiology; received compensation for consulting services from Alexion, Almirall, Biogen, Merck, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi; speaking activities from Bayer, Biogen, Celgene, Chiesi Italia SpA, Eli Lilly, Genzyme, Janssen, Merck-Serono, Neopharmed Gentili, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Roche, Sanofi, Takeda, and TEVA; participation in Advisory Boards for Alexion, Biogen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi, Sanofi-Aventis, Sanofi-Genzyme, Takeda; scientific direction of educational events for Biogen, Merck, Roche, Celgene, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Lilly, Novartis, Sanofi-Genzyme; he receives research support from Biogen Idec, Merck-Serono, Novartis, Roche, Italian Ministry of Health, Fondazione Italiana Sclerosi Multipla, and ARiSLA (Fondazione Italiana di Ricerca per la SLA).
PI: has received honoraria for lecturing and participation in advisory boards, and/or travel expenses for attending congresses and meetings from Almirall, Biogen Idec, Merck Serono, Mylan, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi Genzyme, and TEVA.
RL: declares no conflict of interest
AL: declares no conflict of interest
ALu: has served as a Biogen, Bristol Myers Squibb, Merck Serono, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi/Genzyme Advisory Board Member. She received congress and travel/accommodation expense compensations or speaker honoraria from Alexion, Biogen, Merck Serono, Novartis, Roche (2020), Sanofi/Genzyme, and Fondazione Italiana Sclerosi Multipla (FISM). Her institutions received research grants from Novartis and Sanofi/Genzyme.
SLF: has received honoraria for lecturing and participation in advisory boards, and/or travel expenses for attending congresses and meetings from Almirall, Biogen Idec, Merck Serono, Mylan, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi Genzyme, and TEVA.
GL: has received honoraria for lecturing and participation in advisory boards, and/or travel expenses for attending congresses and meetings from Almirall, Biogen Idec, Merck Serono, Mylan, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi Genzyme, and TEVA.
AGM: is an Advisory Board member of Biogen Idec, Genzyme, Merck-Serono, Novartis, Almirall, Alexion and Roche and received honoraria for speaking or consultation fees from Alexion, Almirall, Bayer Schering, Biogen Idec, Merck Serono, Novartis, Sanofi-Genzyme, Roche, Janssen, Viatris and Bristol-Myers Squiibb. She is the principal investigator in clinical trials for Biogen Idec, Merck Serono, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi-Genzyme and Merck Serono.
FM: received compensation for speaking activities, travel grant and participation in advisory board from Biogen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi-Genzyme, Merck-Serono.
MM: received compensation for consulting services, speaking activities and participation in advisory board from Alexion, Almirall, Bayer, Biogen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Celgene, CSL Behring, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi-Genzyme, Janssen, Merck-Serono, Viatris; he received research support from Biogen, Merck-Serono, Novartis, Roche.
LM: received compensation for speaking activities, travel grant and participation in advisory board from Biogen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi-Genzyme, Merck-Serono, Biogen, Alexion.
CP: declares no conflict of interest
SR: received compensation for speaking activities, travel grant and participation in advisory board from Biogen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi-Genzyme, Merck-Serono, Viatris.
ST: declares no conflict of interest
MT: reported receiving speaker honoraria and research grants to her institution from and serving on advisory boards of Biogen, Merck Serono, and Novartis.
DV: declares no conflict of interest
FP: has received honoraria for speaking activities by Almirall, Bayer Schering, Biogen Idec, Merck Serono, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi Genzyme, and TEVA; he also served as advisory board member the following companies: Bayer Schering, Biogen Idec, Merck Serono, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi Genzyme, and TEVA; he was also funded by Pfizer and FISM for epidemiological studies; he received grants for congress participation from Almirall, Bayer Shering, Biogen Idec, Merck Serono, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi Genzyme, and TEVA.
Availability of data and material: dataset is available under reasonable request to the corresponding author.
Contribution statement. CGC and FP contributed to study concept and design, to analysis and interpretation of data and to drafting of the manuscript. AB, VBM, FC, PC, CC, MD, MF, PI, RL, AL, Alu, SLF, GL, AGM, FM, MM, LM, CP, SR, ST, MT, and DV contributed to acquisition of data, to analysis and interpretation of data, to study supervision and approved the final manuscript.