ECTRIMS study shows Ocrevus benefits patients with MS over 60 (low relapse rate)

[agate]

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Above is a link to a 3-page article in Medscape Today (October 12) entitled "Ocrelizumab Benefit Confirmed in Older Patients with MS," reporting on a paper presented at the ECTRIMS conference in session this month.

The "benefit" seems to be that the patients over 60 who were in the study had a very low relapse rate. However, the article quotes one of the researchers:

"However, this has to be balanced against the fact that overall relapse activity is extremely low in people with multiple sclerosis over the age of 60," [the study presenter] added.

[flatcap]

I'll go with the quote by the researcher: No Ocrevus for me.

[Virginia]

I would like to have taken Ocrevus, but Dr said no to me.

[agate]

Did the doctor give a reason for refusing to prescribe Ocrevus, Virginia? You may have discussed this before but I can't recall.

[Virginia]

Yes he did give a reason. Ocrevous can deplete B cells and cause infections to start up. It is not as likely to do this in the young, but given my age they felt it was more likely and didn't want to risk it.

[agate]

It sounds as if your doctor is really keeping up with the information. You've been spared having to go for an infusion regularly. MS seems to stop doing its relapse thing as we age. Instead it just sits there and gets in the way every other minute. So maybe a high-powered MS drug like Ocrevus just wouldn't be the way to go anyway--since apparently what they're expecting these drugs to do mainly is to prevent relapses.

They don't pay nearly as much attention to how fast or how severely disabilities are coming on. That may be because it's much harder to measure that.