Update on Monoclonal Antibody Therapies for Multiple Sclerosis

LONDON, January 17, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Gavin Giovannoni, European Neurological Review, 2016;11(2):96-100 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17925/ENR.2016.11.02.96

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Published recently in European Neurological Review, the peer-reviewed journal from touchNEUROLOGY, Professor Giovannoni discusses the advantages of monoclonal antibodies in multiple sclerosis (MS) therapy: they are designed to be specific to their target and have very few off-target effects. Monoclonal antibodies have distinct structural characteristics and different targets, and their various mechanisms of action include cross-linking, blocking interactions, induction of signal transduction via receptor binding, complement-dependent cytotoxicity, and antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity. Monoclonal antibodies should not therefore be considered a single class of treatments. Natalizumab and alemtuzumab are highly efficacious treatments approved for treating MS, though they tend to be reserved for patients with more active disease. Other monoclonal antibodies in advanced development include ocrelizumab, ofatumumab, daclizumab and opicinumab (anti-LINGO-1). Screening and monitoring is required to enable the optimal utilisation of all monoclonal antibodies and the benefit-risk profile of each monoclonal antibody needs to be fully considered before use. At present, patients have variable access to effective MS treatments, and this issue is likely to become even more important to address as new therapies become available.

The full peer-reviewed, open-access article is available here:

https://doi.org/10.17925/ENR.2016.11.02.96

Disclosure: Gavin Giovannoni has received compensation for serving as a consultant or speaker for, or has received research support from: AbbVie, Bayer Schering Healthcare, Biogen Idec, Canbex, Eisai, Elan, Five Prime Therapeutics, Genzyme, Genentech, GlaxoSmithKline, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Merck- Serono, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi-Aventis, Synthon BV, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, UCB and Vertex Pharmaceuticals.

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