In people with primary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS), a new study has found no difference in the amount of time before disability worsened between people taking certain medications and those not receiving treatment. The study is published in the September 25, 2024, online issue of Neurology ® , the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. With MS, the body's immune system attacks myelin, the fatty, white substance that insulates and protects the nerves.
People with primary progressive MS experience a steady decline in symptoms. About 10 to 15% of people with the disease have this type of MS. The study looked at rituximab and ocrelizumab, anti-CD20 infusion therapies that target a protein called CD20 found on some white blood cells called B-cells.
Removing these cells from the bloodstream is believed to reduce inflammation and damage that can occur to the myelin. Ocrelizumab is approved by the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for primary progressive MS and for people with relapses, but rituximab is not. Rituximab is FDA approved for other diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and prescribed off label for MS. "MS is a disabling disease, so treatments that slow the progression to worse disability are sorely needed," said study author Laure Michel, MD, PhD, of Rennes University in France.
"Anti-CD20 therapies are widely prescribed, in part because there are few alternate treatments. However, our study suggests they may not slow disability from worsening fo.
