The most common adverse reactions include infusion reactions, including fever, chills, headache, influenza-like illness, elevated heart rate, nausea, throat irritation, reddening of the skin (erythema) and an anaphylactic (allergic) reaction; infections including serious and fatal bacterial, fungal, and new or reactivated viral infections and reduction in immunoglobulins.[4]
It was approved for medical use in the United States in December 2022,[1][5][6][7] and in the European Union in May 2023.[3]
Medical uses
Ublituximab is indicated for the treatment of relapsing-remitting, active secondary progressive, and clinically isolated syndrome forms of multiple sclerosis in adults.[1][4][6]
In the European Union, ublituximab is indicated for the treatment of adults with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (RMS) with active disease defined by clinical or imaging features.[3]
History
Researchers demonstrated the efficacy of ublituximab in two randomized, double-blind, double-dummy, parallel group, active comparator-controlled clinical trials of identical design, in participants with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis treated for 96 weeks.[4] Participants were randomized to receive either ublituximab or teriflunomide, the active comparator.[4] The primary outcome of both studies was the annualized relapse rate over the treatment period.[4] In both studies, ublituximab significantly lowered the annualized relapse rate compared to teriflunomide.[4]
^World Health Organization (2011). "International nonproprietary names for pharmaceutical substances (INN): recommended INN: list 66". WHO Drug Information. 25 (3). hdl:10665/74683.
Further reading
Babiker HM, Glode AE, Cooke LS, Mahadevan D (April 2018). "Ublituximab for the treatment of CD20 positive B-cell malignancies". Expert Opinion on Investigational Drugs. 27 (4): 407–412. doi:10.1080/13543784.2018.1459560. PMID29609506. S2CID4775126.
Clinical trial number NCT03277261 for "Study to Assess the Efficacy and Safety of Ublituximab in Participants With Relapsing Forms of Multiple Sclerosis (RMS) (ULTIMATE 1)" at ClinicalTrials.gov
Clinical trial number NCT03277248 for "Study to Assess the Efficacy and Safety of Ublituximab in Participants With Relapsing Forms of Multiple Sclerosis (RMS) (ULTIMATE II)" at ClinicalTrials.gov