• In patients with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis, Kesimpta is thought to be more effective than Ocrevus in some ways, but no clinical trials have directly compared the two drugs

• Ocrevus is the only one of the two drugs approved to treat primary progressive multiple sclerosis

Kesimpta (ofatumumab) and Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) are prescription medications used to treat relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS), to include clinically isolated syndrome, relapsing-remitting disease, and active secondary progressive disease, in adults. Ocrevus is also used to treat primary progressive MS in adults.

Kesimpta and Ocrevus have not been compared head-to-head in a clinical trial in patients with relapsing forms of MS, but an indirect comparison indicates that Kesimpta is better than Ocrevus when looking at certain measures of effectiveness.

Researchers have compared the data from two Kesimpta trials (ASCLEPIOS I and ASCLEPIOS II) with data from two Ocruvus trials (OPERA I AND OPERA II) using simulated treatment comparisons.

The researchers found that for the patients with three- and six-month confirmed disability progression, the two drugs appear to be similarly effective. However, treatment with Kesimpta appears to provide a significant improvement in annualized relapse rates (rate ratio: 0.60, 95% CI: 0.43-0.84) compared with Ocrevus, meaning that patients treated with Kesimpta were less likely to experience relapses. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) outcomes, which looked at the proportion of patients with gadolinium-enhancing T1 lesions and brain volume change, and NEDA-3 (No Evidence of Disease Activity 3 parameter composite measure) outcomes also significantly favored Kesimpta over Ocrevus.

Kesimpta and Ocrevus are both CD20-directed cytolytic monoclonal antibodies that target B-cells. Exactly how these drugs work is unknown, but it’s thought to be related to their ability to deplete B cells, which reduces the number of relapses patients with MS experience and slows the progression of the disease.