Roche's bestselling medicine's new high dose version failed in the study

(Bloomberg) -Roche Holding AG said that a high dose version of Ocrevus, the top-selling-plenty of sclerosis medicine, could not perform the original in a large study, which may reduce the drug’s ability to prevent cheaper copies. The doubling or tripling the dose over 120 weeks of treatment has not delayed the progress of the disease more than the current version of the drug, Roche said on Wednesday. The findings confirm that the existing dose is optimal, said Roche’s chief medical officer Levi Garraway. The results are a blow to the company’s strategy for expanding the profitable lifespan of the MS medicine, which, according to analysts this year, will earn 7.32 billion Swiss Frank ($ 8.27 billion) in sales. Roche told investors in January that the high dose version of Ocrevus has the potential to be the new standard treatment for MS, a chronic and potentially weakening neurological disease that can cause and be difficult to muster and numbness. Roche also tried to reach new patients for Ocrevus, with a version of the drug that can be given via a shot instead of being applied in a doctor’s office. The shot should be able to add about 2 billion francs in annual sales, the Pharmaceutical unit head Teresa Graham said in January. Roche declined to comment on when the original version of Ocrevus probably faces the decay of patents and cheaper copies. But biosimylary manufacturers are already ready to compete. Amgen Inc. said it is testing a copy of Ocrevus in patients this year, while Celltrion Inc. also registered a rival study in Europe. Roche’s failed high dose study was started in 2020, and followed more than 800 patients with reluctant MS, the most common form of the disease. Still this year, the results of another major study of a high dose of OCRVUs are in patients with primary progressive MS, a less common and generally more varying version of the disease that has fewer treatment options. More stories like these are available on Bloomberg.com © 2025 Bloomberg MP Catch all the business news, corporate news, news events and latest news updates on Live Mint. Download the Mint News app to get daily market updates. Business NewscompaniesNewsroche’s bestselling medicine’s new high dose version fails more less