Genentech's MS Drug Receives NICE Approval

Genentech's Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) is now available to UK patients with relapsing remitting MS (RRMS) after the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommended the drug on Friday (June 22).   About 100,000 people in the UK live with MS, and 85% have a relapsing-remitting form eligible for treatment with ocrelizumab. Ocrelizumab has been shown to reduce the number of relapses per year by nearly half and to slow the risk of progression of the disease compared with current treatment.   Jo Sopala, Director of Development at the MS Trust welcomed the decision to make the drug routinely available, commenting, “We welcome this positive NICE review for RRMS, and hope that it brings us closer to the treatment being made available to people with early [primary progressive] PPMS too.”   Roche/Genentech reports that it is working with NICE to ensure people with early PPMS are also able to access ocrelizumab through the NHS.   Click here for Pharm Exec's Brands of the Year report on Ocrevus.