Roche shares new positive Ocrevus data for MS patients

Roche has shared new Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) data that demonstrates its benefit on disease progression and cognitive outcomes in primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) and secondary progressive MS (SPMS).

Separate treatment disparity analyses among newly diagnosed patients with MS by race and ethnicity will be part of a presentation at the 74th American Academy of Neurology (AAN) Annual Meeting, held from 2-7 April 2022.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease which occurs when the immune system attacks the insulation and support around nerve cells in the central nervous system, causing inflammation and damage. The resulting damage causes muscle weakness, fatigue and difficulty seeing and can eventually lead to disability. The condition affects nearly one million people in the US.

The majority of people who are diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) will eventually transition to secondary progressive MS (SPMS), in which they experience steadily worsening disability over time. Relapsing forms of MS (RMS) include people with RRMS and people with SPMS who continue to experience relapses. Primary progressive MS (PPMS) is a debilitating form of the disease marked by steadily worsening symptoms but typically without distinct relapses or periods of remission.

Existing treatment guidelines recommend the initiation of disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) for patients diagnosed with highly active disease, which is often seen in Black and Hispanic populations, although a recent analysis of a US commercial claims database reported that only 30% of non-Hispanic Black and 20% of Hispanic patients initiated any high-efficacy DMTs, in comparison to 39% of non-Hispanic white patients in the first two years after diagnosis.

Data evaluated in a one-year analysis of the CONSONANCE trial showed that treatment with Ocrevus resulted in a majority of patients experiencing no disease progression. The trial is a first-of-its-kind, open-label, phase 3b study evaluating the effect of Ocrevus in SPMS and PPMS patients.

For 75% of patients diagnosed with SPMS and PPMS treated with Ocrevus, they showed no evidence of progression (NEP) after one year. NEP is a novel composite endpoint and shows no evidence of a person’s physical disability worsening.

In addition to this, 59% of patients treated with Ocrevus in the trial achieved no evidence of progression or active disease over the course of one year.

The data also showed the positive effects of Ocrevus on cognition, with 70% of patients having stable or improved cognition over one year.