Healthcare Insights
Top 10 medications used to treat multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis affects up to 1 million people in the U.S. and about 2.5 million people globally.
Multiple sclerosis disease progression generally follows four courses: clinically isolated syndrome (CIS), relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS), and primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS). The medications used to treat multiple sclerosis are referred to as disease-modifying therapies, and each has an indication from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the type of multiple sclerosis course it treats.
Using Passport Express from Definitive Healthcare, we analyzed multiple sclerosis medications by patient share for 2020-2021 vs. 2021-2022. The table below lists the top medications by percentage of market share.
| Rank | Medication | 2020-2021 | 2021-2022 | Explore dataset |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ocrevus | 60.6 % | 66.2 % | Explore |
| 2 | Tysabri | 25.0 % | 23.7 % | Explore |
| 3 | Gilenya | 2.4 % | 2.0 % | Explore |
| 4 | Copaxone | 2.5 % | 1.8 % | Explore |
| 5 | Glatopa | 1.7 % | 1.5 % | Explore |
| 6 | Tecfidera | 2.6 % | 0.8 % | Explore |
| 7 | Aubagio | 1.5 % | 0.8 % | Explore |
| 8 | Kesimpta | 1.0 % | 0.8 % | Explore |
| 9 | Mavenclad | 0.8 % | 0.7 % | Explore |
| 10 | Vumerity | 0.5 % | 0.6 % | Explore |
Fig. 1 This table illustrates how the multiple sclerosis patient share for various medications has changed from June 1, 2021, to May 31, 2022, compared with June 1, 2020, to May 31, 2021. This analysis is from Passport Express, which combines and analyzes data from our ClaimsMx and ClaimsRx products.
What is the year-over-year change in multiple sclerosis medications by patient share?
Ocrevus and Tysabri account for over 85% of the patient share of multiple sclerosis medications. Ocrevus experienced a 5.6% year-over-year (YoY) growth, while all other top 10 medications experienced less than a 1.8% YoY change in variance. The growth of Ocrevus is attributed to the continued positive results from recent and ongoing clinical studies that report disease-stopped outcomes for 75% of RRMS patients who, after two years of treatment on Ocrevus, show no symptoms of the disease.
What is multiple sclerosis?
Multiple sclerosis is a chronic disease of the central nervous system that disrupts the flow of information within the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves and leads to progressive neurological impairments such as memory loss, pain, blindness, and paralysis. It is generally accepted that multiple sclerosis is driven by certain lymphocyte B and T cells attacking the myelin sheath that insulates and surrounds nerve cells.
What is Ocrevus?
Ocrevus is an FDA-approved therapeutic monoclonal antibody administered every six months to treat RRMS and PPMS patients. While the exact mechanism of how Ocrevus works is not entirely clear, it’s suggested that the medication may work to decrease certain B cells displaying CD20 protein on its surface.
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