re: New MS Drug Ocrevus Wins FDA Approval

An interesting thing about this drug is that there is already a monoclonal antibody called rituximab that targets the same receptor, CD20 (a protein on immune cells). The difference is that ocrevus is a humanized antibody while rituximab is a mouse/human chimeric antibody. How much difference that makes, I don't know as I'm not an antibody expert. I do know that ocrelizumab will have patent protection longer, potentially explaining the push to have it approved.