Clinical Research Directory

Home Monitoring of Adult Patients With SMA: a Pilot Multicenter Validation Study

There is no complete cure for SMA yet. However, the discovery of the genetic cause of SMA has led to the development of several treatment options that affect the genes involved in SMA - a gene replacement therapy called Zolgensma, and two drugs, called Nusinersen (Spinraza) and Risdiplam (Evyrsdi). In this context, the evaluation of efficacy and the long term follow-up of patients treated with these innovative treatments in clinical routine is one of the critical points. These evaluations are carried out in a medical context (clinical sites or research unit) using validated measurement tools and outcome measures. Carrying out these evaluations in a controlled environment can be considered from certain aspects as an advantage (reproducibility of measures, neutral environment, etc.), but also raises a certain number of questions regarding the impact on patients, the financial cost, or the relevance of the data obtained in an unnatural environment (stress, fatigue, patient motivation…). Also the regulatory authorities ask for longitudinal data for deciding to reimburse these expensive treatments. As such, the hospital cannot digest all these evaluations due to a lack of resources.