Ocrevus (ocrelizumab), Genentech’s humanized anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, continues to show clear evidence that it helps to slow disease progression and enable better function — including in the hands and limbs — of relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS) and primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS), latest data reveals.
The first FDA-approved therapy — in March 2017 — tackling both MS forms, Ocrevus was quickly considered a “game-changing MS treatment.” Last week, Multiple Sclerosis News Today interviewed Dr. Hideki Garren, Genentech’s Group Medical Director of Product Development Neuroscience, about current views and the data collected to date on the therapy’s effectiveness.
“We have been very pleased by the overwhelmingly positive reception that Ocrevus has had from the MS community and regulatory bodies across the world. As of the end of 2017, over 30,000 people have been treated with Ocrevus, and it has been approved for use in 50 countries globally,” Garren said.
“Ongoing data for Ocrevus support the need for the medicine and reinforce why we have seen such positive uptake in the U.S. … and the recent approvals across the globe, such as the recent EU approval,” he added.
At the ACTRIMS 2018 Forum that took place Feb. 1–3, Genentech presented several posters with new data, results that “expand on prior presentations by showing the impact of Ocrevus on functions that are important for the day-to-day activities of people with MS, such as hand/arm function and visual acuity,” said Garren.
In one presentation, researchers assessed the proportion of relapsing MS patients who achieved NEPAD in the Phase 3 OPERA trials (NCT01247324 and NCT01412333), a new endpoint that stands for “no evidence of progression or active disease.” NEPAD includes hand/arm function and walking assessments, two new parameters that “are highly relevant for people with MS because it is these abilities that allow them to maintain their independence and quality of life,” Garren said.
NEPAD is also a more comprehensive measure of disability progression, and is considered a clinically meaningful measurement of overall disease activity and disability progression in people with both relapsing MS and PPMS, Garren emphasized.
The analysis showed that, compared to Rebif (interferon beta-1a), treatment with Ocrevus increased the proportion of patients reaching NEPAD at week 96 post-treatment by 82 percent. These results are in agreement with previous Ocrevus data that had NEDA (no evidence of disease activity) as its endpoint — treatment for the same period led to 75 percent of patients achieving NEDA compared with Rebif.