ICER Examines Cost Effectiveness, Clinical Effectiveness of Multiple Sclerosis Drugs

Three FDA-approved multiple sclerosis treatments and one MS drug that the FDA is currently reviewing are not cost effective, according to an analysis from the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER). Jon Campbell, Ph.D., ICER’s senior vice president for health economics and one of the report’s authors, also tells AIS Health that there was “insufficient evidence” to differentiate the clinical effectiveness of any of those four drugs, which are known as monoclonal antibodies.  

The findings were part of a larger ICER draft evidence report published on Oct. 17 that examined the clinical effectiveness and cost effectiveness of oral and monoclonal antibody disease modifying therapies (DMTs) for relapsing-remitting MS. About 85% of the 1 million Americans with MS have the relapsing-remitting form.