THE Multiple Sclerosis (MS) therapeutics market has entered an exciting phase, with an upsurge of available treatment options and several promising late-stage pipeline products offering diverse mechanisms of action (MOAs).

The launch of 12 new therapies will drive growth in the MS space, provide more options for patients, and stimulate further competition, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

The MS pipeline features 299 drugs across all stages of development, 65 per cent of these drugs are in preclinical stage of development; which is dominated by small molecules and monoclonal antibodies.

The MS market is expected to grow in sales due to the entry in the market of new pipeline agents.

These candidates have a broad range of MOAs, including anti-CD20 antibodies, three second generation S1P receptor modulators, an anti-LINGO-1 antibody, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, and antioxidants.

Alessio Brunello, Pharma Analyst at GlobalData, said: “The potential launch of three S1P receptor inhibitors (siponimod, ozanimod and ponesimod) will increase competition in the MS market and these new drugs will take patient share from the approved treatment Novartis’ Gilenya.

"?The current MS market is highly competitive, with 13 available treatment options, most of which are immunomodulatory agents.

"The majority of approved treatments address the inflammatory and systemic origins of the disease, but few possess neuroprotective effects and, as such, have an insufficient impact on the underlying neurologic deterioration caused by MS.

"Two additional monoclonal antibodies, from Novartis (ofatumumab) and TG Therapeutics (ublituximab) are expected to launch in the forecast period despite physicians being satisfied with Roche’s/Genentech’s Ocrevus (ocrelizumab)."

Brunello concluded: “The MS market is heading towards earlier and more aggressive therapies, with studies in the US questioning whether people with MS who are recently diagnosed should already go on with one of the monoclonal antibody therapies.

“If the results strongly indicate that there is an advantage to starting aggressive therapy earlier, monoclonal antibodies, particularly ocrelizumab and perhaps cladribine, will become first-line treatment for most patients and this will be a big paradigm shift in the treatment algorithm.”