Real-World Data May Show Lower Relapse Rates With Ofatumumab Compared to Ocrelizumab in MS Patients

A real-world, retrospective cohort study using US claims data found that treatment with ofatumumab (OMB) was associated with significantly lower annualized relapse rates (ARR) than ocrelizumab (OCR) in patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS), including treatment-naïve individuals.

The study analyzed claims data from August 2019 to July 2024, identifying 2604 eligible adult MS patients with persistent use of either OMB or OCR. After 1:1 matching to balance demographic and disease characteristics, researchers compared ARR using negative binomial regression.

Over a mean follow-up of 1.50 years, ARR was 0.10 (95% CI, 0.08–0.13) in the OMB group and 0.14 (95% CI, 0.12–0.17) in the OCR group, indicating a 31% reduction in relapse incidence for OMB (IRR: 0.69; 95% CI, 0.51–0.94; P < 0.05). This difference remained statistically significant after adjusting for the index year.

In treatment-naïve subcohorts with a mean follow-up of 1.37 years, ARR was 0.10 (95% CI, 0.07–0.15) for OMB and 0.18 (95% CI, 0.13–0.25) for OCR, corresponding to a 41% reduction in relapse risk for OMB (IRR: 0.59; 95% CI, 0.35–0.99; P <0.05). After index year adjustment, OMB still showed a numerically lower ARR (IRR: 0.61; 95% CI, 0.36–1.02; P = 0.06), though this was not statistically significant.

Researchers concluded that the findings highlight potential advantages of ofatumumab in relapse reduction and support continued investigation into its comparative effectiveness.

Reference
Tai M-H, Taiji R, Brown B, Vekeman F, Gadkari A. Real-world comparison of annualized relapse rate in patients with multiple sclerosis treated with ofatumumab vs ocrelizumab. Presented at: CMSC 2025; May 28-31; Phoenix, AZ.