Image source, NHS England
Thousands of people with multiple sclerosis (MS) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will be offered a new 10-minute injection to help slow the progression of the disease, the National Health Service (NHS) has announced.
The drug, called ocrelizumab, is usually given as an infusion into a vein, a procedure that can take up to four hours in a hospital.
Health officials say the new way of administering the drugs will save time for patients and doctors.
Ocrelizumab helps control symptoms of two types of MS.
The subcutaneous injection was recently approved by medicines regulators in the UK and Europe.
More than 150,000 people in the UK live with MS, with around 135 people diagnosed every week.
This lifelong disease is caused when a person’s immune system mistakenly attacks the protective membrane surrounding the nerves in the brain and spinal cord.
Messages traveling along the nerves may be slowed or interrupted.
This can lead to a variety of problems, including impaired vision, movement, sensation and balance, which can cause serious disability.
Ocrelizumab (also called Ocrevus) is given twice a year and targets a specific part of the immune system to help reduce attacks.
This therapy can be used to treat two forms of multiple sclerosis: active relapsing multiple sclerosis and early primary progressive multiple sclerosis.
In relapsing-remitting MS, the most common form, the disease worsens and subsides with episodes, or relapses, of MS activity.
In other cases, the condition is progressive, with symptoms getting worse over time.
Ning Sambi, 39, from Staffordshire, was diagnosed with relapsing multiple sclerosis two years ago.
She currently receives medication through an IV drip, but said the injections would make a big difference and allow her to spend more time with her young family.
“Ocrelizumab has worked well for me so far and given me hope for a better, healthier future, but it would be more convenient for me to have an injection,” she said.
“Right now it takes four to five hours to get an infusion and the preparation is really hard.
“I have two kids under 10 so coordinating child care is a challenge.”
Professor Stephen Powis, national medical director for NHS England, said ocrelizumab “represents a major advance in treatment in recent years” as the first drug that can change the course of MS.
He added: “This new injection will significantly reduce typical treatment times for people with MS, reducing the time that thousands of patients spend in hospital and giving doctors more time to see more patients. [provide] Ward lung capacity.”
The Multiple Sclerosis Society charity welcomed the decision to approve the injectable drug and that patients will now have greater choice over how they take their medication.
Ocrelizumab is manufactured by Roche and was first approved in the UK in 2018.
Other injectable treatments for relapsing multiple sclerosis include ofatumumab, which patients can administer at home.
