Hi MGM,
The data you seek is here:
Long-term safety and efficacy of ocrelizumab in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis: Week 144 results of a Phase II, randomised, multicentre trial
http://www.adelphigroup.com/acl/11-10-12/Poster1.pdf
I strongly urge anyone wanting this info to save it because, IMO, this pdf will get pulled from the internet shortly. I’d be willing to bet on it; I hope I'm wrong but why chance it when you download it now?
Please find Figure 4 and enlarge it so you can read it. It is the bar chart which is titled “Relapse Activity Weeks 0-144”
The first set of bars is for placebo. The second set of bars is for OCR (Ocrelizumab 600mg). Do you see there are 4 infusions of OCR, the last at 72-96 weeks? Below that figure it says “Treatment-free”in green print. The bar graph shows that after 4 courses of OCR relapse activity did not pick up even after OCR treatment stopped.
Question… w/o MS activity why continue taking OCR after 4 courses and risk serious infections or possibly, even cancer?
Question… why take more of a medicine required to contain MS?
Question… why spend a lot of money (insurance or your own) on medicine doing no more than if you were not taking it after 4 courses?
Question… why go sit for a 5 hour infusion, needlessly?
The real question… why keep trying to kill something already dead (CD20 cells), why not test to see if/when those problem cells reconstitute and THEN, if they do, kill them with another course of OCR? The problem is that OCR does not only kill CD20 but it also diminishes other mainstays of the immune system, so why overdo it and risk creating serious problems a more properly functioning immune system would have taken care of?
BTW, since CD 20 cells cannot be tested, CD 19 is reported on labs. Essentially, the two have the same value. Just know that CD19 is what will be on your lab report. CD19 value is used in place of CD20.
The data you seek is here:
Long-term safety and efficacy of ocrelizumab in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis: Week 144 results of a Phase II, randomised, multicentre trial
http://www.adelphigroup.com/acl/11-10-12/Poster1.pdf
I strongly urge anyone wanting this info to save it because, IMO, this pdf will get pulled from the internet shortly. I’d be willing to bet on it; I hope I'm wrong but why chance it when you download it now?
Please find Figure 4 and enlarge it so you can read it. It is the bar chart which is titled “Relapse Activity Weeks 0-144”
The first set of bars is for placebo. The second set of bars is for OCR (Ocrelizumab 600mg). Do you see there are 4 infusions of OCR, the last at 72-96 weeks? Below that figure it says “Treatment-free”in green print. The bar graph shows that after 4 courses of OCR relapse activity did not pick up even after OCR treatment stopped.
Question… w/o MS activity why continue taking OCR after 4 courses and risk serious infections or possibly, even cancer?
Question… why take more of a medicine required to contain MS?
Question… why spend a lot of money (insurance or your own) on medicine doing no more than if you were not taking it after 4 courses?
Question… why go sit for a 5 hour infusion, needlessly?
The real question… why keep trying to kill something already dead (CD20 cells), why not test to see if/when those problem cells reconstitute and THEN, if they do, kill them with another course of OCR? The problem is that OCR does not only kill CD20 but it also diminishes other mainstays of the immune system, so why overdo it and risk creating serious problems a more properly functioning immune system would have taken care of?
BTW, since CD 20 cells cannot be tested, CD 19 is reported on labs. Essentially, the two have the same value. Just know that CD19 is what will be on your lab report. CD19 value is used in place of CD20.
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