Following the news that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has approved Novartis’ Kesimpta (ofatumumab) for the treatment of relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (RMS) in adults;

Philippa Salter, Neurology Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers her view:

“Kesimpta will provide a point of difference for MS patients as the first B-cell therapy for MS that can be self-administered from home. Presently, it is expected be the second most sought after Roche’s Ocrevus in the pharma market. However, GlobalData anticipates good uptake for Kesimpta, forecasting an annual global revenue of US$3.3bn by 2028.

“Kesimpta, as a second-to-market anti-CD20 therapy for MS, will directly compete with Roche’s Ocrevus (ocrelizumab), which is already very well established in the market. Ocrevus requires IV infusion in a hospital which can be inconvenient for patients, however, it only needs to be administered twice a year compared with the once-monthly sub-cutaneous dosing of Kesimpta.

“Due to Ocrevus’ high efficacy at reducing relapses and good safety profile, GlobalData expects it to maintain its position in the MS market, generating US$7.6bn global sales by 2028.”