Portsmouth MS Society welcomes '˜promising' new drug trials

Trials published in the New England Journal of Medicine, suggest the drug can slow damage to the brain in two forms of MS.

Reports say Ocrelizumab is the first drug shown to work in the primary progressive form of the disease.

Aaron Bailey, chairman of the Portsmouth and District branch of the MS Society, said: ‘It does sound promising, and hopefully it will benefit people in the future.

‘But at the moment, I don’t really know anything about it.

‘It’s important we continue pursuing any potential breakthrough.’

Trial results revealed the percentage of patients with 12-week confirmed disability progression was 32.9 per cent with ocrelizumab versus 39.3 per cent with placebo.

While the percentage of patients with 24-week confirmed disability progression was 29.6 per cent with ocrelizumab versus 35.7% with placebo

By week 120, performance on the timed 25-foot walk worsened by 38.9 per cent with ocrelizumab versus 55.1% with placebo.