Real world study of ocrelizumab in multiple sclerosis: Kuwait experience

Background: Ocrelizumab is a humanized anti-CD20 antibody that has been approved for the treatment of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Real-world data in the Middle East is very limited. Objectives: To describe the effectiveness and safety of ocrelizumab treatment in MS patients in a real clinical setting.Methods: This is an observational, registry-based study. MS patients who were treated with ocrelizumab and completed at least one-year follow-up post-treatment were included. Baseline clinical and radiological characteristics were collected before ocrelizumab initiation. The relapse rate, disability measures, magnetic resonance image (MRI) activity (new T2 lesions and/or GD+ enhancing T1 lesions), and adverse events (AE) at the last follow-up visits were assessed.Results: Data from 447 patients were analyzed, of which 260 (58.2%) were females. The mean age and mean disease duration were 37.39 & PLUSMN; 11.61 and 9.38 & PLUSMN; 7.57 years respectively. Most of the cohort was of a relapsing form (74.3%; n = 332), whereas active secondary and primary progressive forms represented 15.4% (n = 69) and 10.3% (n = 46) respectively. In the relapsing cohort, Ocrelizumab was prescribed in 162 (48.8%) patients due to highly active disease, and in 99 (29.8%) patients due to disease breakthrough while on prior therapies. In the last follow-up visits, most of the relapsing cohort was relapse-free (95.8% vs. 27.4%; p <0.001), had no evidence of MRI activity (3.6% vs. 67.5%; p <0.001) while EDSS score was stable (1.80+1.22 vs. 1.87+1.16; p < 0.104) when compared to baseline. NEDA-3 was achieved in 302 (91%) of RRMS patients. Confirmed disability progression was 27.5% and 23.9% in SPMS and PPMS respectively. Adverse events were observed in 139 (31.1%); infusion reactions and infections represented the most.Conclusion: This study showed that ocrelizumab is an effective and safe treatment for MS patients in a real clinical setting similar to what was observed in clinical trials.

Automated summary

This is an observational study on the effectiveness and safety of ocrelizumab treatment in multiple sclerosis patients in a real clinical setting. The study found that ocrelizumab is an effective and safe treatment for multiple sclerosis patients in real-world practice, similar to what was observed in clinical trials.