Long-term treatment for up to 12o weeks, with the investigational drug Ozanimod (RPC-1063), found to be effective and safe in patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS) who participated in the RADIANCE clinical trial. Celgene, Ozanimod’s developer, presented the study, “Efficacy and Safety of Ozanimod in the Blinded Extension (120…

Relapsing multiple sclerosis (RMS) patients taking the investigational drug ozanimod, also known as RPC-1063, had lower relapse rate than those on weekly Avonex (interferon β-1a) therapy, according to Celgene in an announcement updating results of its Phase 3 RADIANCE trial. Ozanimod is a new orally administrated drug that selectively inhibits the…

Diplomat Pharmacy, the largest independent specialty pharmacy in the U.S., has been selected to dispense Ocrevus (ocrelizumab), a limited-distribution drug, to people with relapsing  and primary progressive multiple sclerosis. Ocrevus was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on March 28, becoming the first therapy approved for both RMS and…

At long last, and for the first time in medical history, people with both relapsing and primary progressive forms of multiple sclerosis have reason to celebrate. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved Ocrevus (ocrelizumab)  as a disease-modifying therapy for both forms of MS, a chronic autoimmune disease.

Twenty years ago, the idea that B-cell depletion could treat multiple sclerosis would have been greeted with a hearty laugh by any well-respected neurologist or MS researcher — or perhaps a scoff. But times change and research advances. Today, a medicine that gets rid of certain B-cells may be the most powerful drug yet developed against…

March 28, at the latest, may be a historic date for the multiple sclerosis (MS) community — patients, families, caregivers, researchers, and physicians alike. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will have its say about the marketing approval for Ocrevus (ocrelizumab). The drug will be the first to offer benefit to…

European users of Copaxone (glatiramer acetate injection, Teva Pharmaceutical) to treat relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (RMS) will no longer see a warning that the drug should not be used during pregnancy. A report assessing this change in the drug’s marketing authorization within the European Union — a process known as…

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the health authority for England and Wales, has decided not to recommend Zinbryta (daclizumab) be made available to multiple sclerosis (MS) patients through the country’s health service. The decision came in a first stage of the drug’s review process, and NICE is welcoming…

Actelion announced that it will investigate the therapeutic potential of a new, oral combination therapy with ponesimod and Tecfidera (dimethyl fumarate) as a treatment for relapsing multiple sclerosis (RMS). The Phase 3 clinical study, being conducted under a Special Protocol Assessment agreement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), aims to find…

In addition to a new study sponsored by Genentech to test the experimental MS therapy Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) in RMS patients who have had a sub-optimal response to previous disease modifying therapies, the company is also currently recruiting patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis to understand the therapy’s mechanism of action and B-cell biology…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is giving priority review to a request to approve Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) as a treatment for both forms of multiple sclerosis, the drug’s developer, Genentech, announced. If the company’s Biologics License Application (BLA) is approved, Ocrevus will become the first drug able to treat patients with either relapsing or…

Roche recently provided an update on their late-stage pipeline products across several therapeutic areas, including ocrelizumab for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. The data was disclosed on Nov. 5 at the Roche Pharma Day 2015 event in London, U.K. Ocrelizumab was previously revealed to be the first investigational medicine…

On October 8, 2015, data on two Phase III clinical trials called FREEDOMS and FREEDOMS II on Gilenya (fingolimod), a drug developed by Novartis, were presented at the 31st Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS), currently being held in Barcelona, Spain (October 7-10).