Stephen Krieger, MD, Talks Ocrelizumab in RRMS and PPMS Treatment

Interest in ocrelizumab has been growing since the antibody's trial data was made available in the fall of 2015.

In March, it became the first-ever drug approved for primary progessive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) treatment by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). But Stephen Krieger, MD, wants to ease expectations for the groundbreaking treatment.

Krieger, associate professor at Mount Sinai Hospital, spoke on the state of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) treatment at the 2017 Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers (CMSC). He noted that ocrelizumab has proven historically efficient — reporting "basically zero" enhancing lesions in one year extended patient trials.

"We've really never seen something like that in our field before," Krieger said.

Though it's lone among treatments for PPMS, ocrelizumab has drawn interest in its effect against RRMS particuarly, Krieger said.

"Its effacacy in relapsing MS was very substantial," Krieger said. "Its effacacy against primary progressive MS was modest, but it was statistically significant."

Krieger anticipated MS patients of either type will begin gauging healthcare professionals for information on ocrelizumab, but PPMS patients should be more prepared for a "tempered conversation."

As the scope of MS treatment begins to change with new approved drugs, Krieger has turned more focus to better interpreting the condition itself.

His free iPad app, MS Topography, helps healthcare professionals better explain the characteristics and machinations of MS with a visual that combines the results of both clinical examination and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

"The topigraphical model depicts MS as more of a continuum, rather than individual buckets of relapsing MS, primary progressive MS, and 2nd primary progressing MS," Krieger said.