Work Productivity Outcomes Associated with Ocrelizumab Compared with Other Disease-Modifying Therapies for Multiple Sclerosis

Objective This study evaluated work and activity impairment in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) treated with ocrelizumab (OCR) versus other disease-modifying therapies (DMTs). Methods Data were obtained from the Adelphi Real World Disease Specific Programme for Multiple Sclerosis. Patients with relapsing–remitting or secondary progressive MS who completed surveys in 2018 and 2019 and received ≥ 6 months of an eligible therapy, including OCR, injectable therapy, and oral therapy, were included. Outcomes were assessed using the patient-reported Work Productivity and Activity Impairment questionnaire. Doubly robust estimation, which combined propensity score weighting and regression modeling, was used to compare treatments, controlling for baseline clinical and demographic characteristics. Results This study included 630 patients (OCR, n = 90; injectable DMT, n = 224; oral DMT, n = 316) with a mean (standard deviation) age of 42 (11) years. A greater proportion of OCR-treated patients had an Expanded Disability Status Scale score of ≥ 3 at treatment initiation compared with those receiving oral and injectable DMTs (51 vs. 15% and 15%, respectively), and a smaller proportion of OCR-treated patients received treatment for ≥ 1 year (43 vs. 90% and 92%, respectively). OCR-treated patients had higher odds of employment [odds ratio (95% confidence interval) 3.4 (1.5–7.7) vs. oral DMT, 5.6 (2.6–12.0) vs. injectable DMT], lower overall work productivity loss [difference (95% confidence interval) − 10.0% (− 6.1 to − 15.0%) vs. oral DMT, − 13.0% (− 8.5 to − 17.0%) vs. injectable DMT] and lower activity impairment [difference (95% confidence interval) − 11% (− 7.1 to − 16.0%) vs. oral DMT, − 9.7% (− 5.0 to − 14.0%) vs. injectable DMT]. Conclusion This real-world evidence suggests that patients with MS treated with OCR experience lower work and activity impairment than patients treated with other DMTs.