What It Costs to Prevent an MS Relapse: New Report Reveals Some Shockers

I’m often asked where I get much of the information I turn into our Life With Multiple Sclerosis blogs. I use a lot of the same patient advocacy organizations that you do. I also subscribe to some medical journals, and I get alerts from professional sites used by doctors and journalists. Last week I got an alert from one of those sites telling me about a new report on the cost-benefit ratio of multiple sclerosis (MS) drugs, produced by the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) and dated March 6, 2017. In the report (It’s 253 pages, so make the coffee strong), the Institute states that most people living with MS who use disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) are generally happy with the outcomes relative to disease progression and quality-of-life issues (though they feel that quality of life could be addressed better in clinical studies of drugs). Some MS Drugs Work Better Than Others The Institute also says that while all of the medications seem to have redeeming qualities for at least a portion of the MS patient population, three medications in particular — Lemtrada (alemtuzumab), Tysabri (natalizumab), and Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) — were “the most effective drugs in reducing relapses, and they were significantly better than the other DMTs.” (Note that Ocrevus is not yet approved for marketing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration but is widely expected to be approved this month.) The report also states that those three DMTs seem to be a bit better at...
Source: Life with MS - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: multiple sclerosis MS in the news research treatment Source Type: blogs