AVAILABILITY OF OCRELIZUMAB FOR PEOPLE WITH PRIMARY PROGRESSIVE MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

That this House supports the 21,000 people who signed the MS Society petition to make ocrelizumab, brand name ocrevus, available on the NHS for people living with primary progressive MS; notes that around 600 people are diagnosed with primary progressive multiple sclerosis every year; recognises that there are currently no disease-modifying treatments available on the NHS for people with primary progressive multiple sclerosis; acknowledges that ocrelizumab was licensed by the European Medicines Agency as the first treatment for people with early primary progressive multiple sclerosis over a year ago and that in medical trials, people with primary progressive MS who took ocrelizumab had 25 per cent less risk of their disability getting worse, helping people walk better, and making lesions in the brain smaller; further notes the decision taken in September 2018 by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to reject ocrelizumab on the NHS for people with primary progressive MS on the basis of cost; welcomes that negotiations between the drug manufacturer Roche, NHS England and NICE are taking place; and urges Roche, NHS England and NICE to do all that they can to make ocrelizumab available for people with primary progressive MS as soon as possible.