Rituximab Noninferior to Ocrelizumab for Newly Diagnosed Relapsing MS

MONDAY, July 6, 2026 (HealthDay News) — For patients with newly diagnosed relapsing multiple sclerosis and recent disease activity, rituximab is noninferior to ocrelizumab for suppressing disease activity, according to a study published in the July 2 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Øivind Torkildsen, M.D., Ph.D., from Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen, Norway, and colleagues conducted a phase 3 noninferiority trial involving adults with newly diagnosed relapsing multiple sclerosis and recent disease activity. Participants were randomly assigned to receive rituximab or ocrelizumab every six months for 24 months (132 and 84 patients, respectively).

The researchers found that the estimated probability of having no new or enlarging lesions detected on T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was 92.2 and 94.8 percent with rituximab and ocrelizumab, respectively, between months 6 and 24, corresponding to a −2.6-percentage point risk difference, which met the prespecified noninferiority criteria. The two groups had similar relapse rates, disability outcomes, and cognitive performance profiles. Infections occurred more often in the rituximab group than the ocrelizumab group (82 versus 69 percent); a similar percentage of participants in each group had serious adverse events (8 and 7 percent, respectively).

“Rituximab was noninferior to ocrelizumab in suppressing disease activity on T2-weighted MRI between months 6 and 24, on the basis of a noninferiority margin of 10 percentage points,” the authors write.

Several authors disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical industry.

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