Long-Term Data Reveal Ocrevus Comparable to Tysabri Tx in Effectiveness, Safety Outcomes

Treatment with Ocrevus (ocrelizumab; Genentech, South San Francisco, CA) for people with multiple sclerosis (MS) showed comparable effectiveness, safety, and treatment persistence to treatment with Tysabri (natalizumab; Biogen, Cambridge, MA) over a 5-year observation period. The results of a long-term, real-world study comparing these 2 disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) were presented at the 40th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS).

The study included 309 participants who had undergone treatment with Ocrevus (n=141) or Tysabri (n=168) at Italian MS centers between 2010 and 2019. Researchers adjusted for differences in patient demographics, disease progression, treatment duration, and length of follow up using propensity-score (PS)–matching and pairwise censoring. Comparisons between matched samples and the relationship between treatment exposure, discontinuation and occurrence of adverse events (AEs) were evaluated using Cox proportional hazard regression models and logistic regression, respectively.

The following results were reported:

• PS-matching retained 79 pairs of participants who showed no difference in expanded disability status scale (EDSS) at baseline (P=0.07).
• Participants who received Ocrevus were older, less active at baseline, and less frequently treatment-naïve than those who received Tysabri (P<0.05).
• There were no differences found in the proportion of participants free of relapse (hazard ratio [HR], 1.05 [0.76 to 1.45]; P=.755), MRI activity (HR, 1.08 [0.73 to 1.60]; P=.687) or EDSS progression (HR, 0.93 [0.66 to 1.32]; P=.692) at 12, 36, or 60 months.

Median time to no evidence of disease activity (NEDA-3) loss was 52 months for individuals who received Ocrevus and 56 months for those who received Tysabri (HR 1.01 [0.65-1.56], P=0.978).

• No differences were found between the two groups in terms of AE occurrence (odds ratio [OR], 2.62 [0.99 to 7.77; P=.062) or treatment discontinuation (HR, 0.58 [0.26 to 1.26]; P=.173).