AndyPR
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38392548A drug that alters the immune system has been described as "big news" and a "landmark" in treating multiple sclerosis, doctors and charities say.
Trials, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, suggest the drug can slow damage to the brain in two forms of MS.
Ocrelizumab is the first drug shown to work in the primary progressive form of the disease.
The drug is being reviewed for use in the US and Europe.
MS is caused by a rogue immune system mistaking part of the brain for a hostile invader and attacking it.
It destroys the protective coating that wraps round nerves called the myelin sheath.
The sheath also acts like wire insulation to help electrical signals travel down the nerve.
Damage to the sheath prevents nerves from working correctly and means messages struggle to get from the brain to the body.
This leads to symptoms like having difficulty walking, fatigue and blurred vision.
From Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocrelizumab
Ocrelizumab is a humanized anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, hence a CD20 antagonist. It targets mature B lymphocytes[1] and hence is an immunosuppressive drug candidate. It is under development for multiple sclerosis by Hoffmann–La Roche's subsidiary Genentech.
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Ocrelizumab is a slightly modified version of Biogen/Genentech's existing therapy Rituxan/Rituximab. As Rituxan was approaching FDA approval for treatment of multiple sclerosis, it was simultaneously approaching the end of its patent. To avoid the profit loss of a new treatment that could have been available sooner and eventually in a generic form, Rituxan trials were halted and Ocrelizumab trials quickly began.
Paper in New England Journal of Medicine http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1606468