US FDA approves injectable version of Roche's multiple sclerosis therapy

(Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved Roche's under-the-skin injection to treat patients with multiple sclerosis.

The subcutaneous or under-the-skin therapy called Ocrevus Zunovo has the potential to expand treatment options to centers unable to administer the IV version.

The therapy is already approved as an IV infusion for multiple sclerosis under the brand name Ocrevus, which is given twice a year. The subcutaneous version is a 10-minute injection also given twice a year.

Ocrevus is used to treat patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis (RMS) and primary progressive multiple sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis is a condition that occurs when the immune system attacks the brain and spinal cord. The company estimates that the disease affects more than 2.9 million people worldwide.

The approval was based on data from a late-stage study that showed no significant difference in Ocrevus levels in the blood when administered subcutaneously.

The subcutaneous formulation, which received marketing authorization from the European Commission in June, combines Ocrevus with Halozyme Therapeutics' drug delivery technology, which allows the therapy to be rapidly dispersed and absorbed into the bloodstream.

Ocrevus is a monoclonal antibody designed to target CD20-positive B cells, a specific type of immune cell thought to be a key contributor to nerve cell damage.

More than 350,000 people with multiple sclerosis have been treated with Ocrevus IV globally, according to Roche. The IV formulation of Ocrevus recorded sales of 6.38 billion Swiss francs ($7.52 billion) in 2023.

Other approved treatments for RMS include Novartis' Kesimpta, given as a monthly injection, and Biogen's Tysabri, administered as an IV infusion every four weeks.

($1 = 0.8481 Swiss francs)

(Reporting by Sneha S K, Sruthi Narasimha Chari and Puyaan Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Vijay Kishore)