BMS confirms COVID-19 vaccine immune response in Zeposia-treated MS patients

Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) has announced new retrospective analyses on serologic responses and clinical outcomes with COVID-19 vaccination in participants treated with Zeposia (ozanimod) from the ongoing phase 3 DAYBREAK open-label extension study in relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS).

The new analyses will be featured in the late-breaking research session at the 38th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis in Amsterdam.

The company reported that more than 92% of all patients in the analyses mounted a serological response following vaccination. Additionally, among participants with prior COVID-19 exposure, seroconversion was observed in 100% of individuals following full COVID-19 mRNA or non-mRNA vaccination.

COVID-19-related adverse events were reported in 10% of vaccinated participants, all of which were non serious, the company outlined.

“This data is of clinical importance for physicians treating MS, because it provides a greater understanding of how COVID-19 infections and vaccinations interplay with Zeposia treatment,” said Bruce Cree, study investigator and professor of Clinical Neurology, University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Weill Institute for Neurosciences and Clinical Research Director, UCSF MS Center.

He continued: “Regardless of prior COVID-19 exposure, most participants mounted an immune response following COVID-19 vaccination without experiencing adverse events, in contrast to some reports of other S1P modulators that described no response, adding insight to the treatment decision making process.”

MS is a disabling, unpredictable disease in which the immune system attacks the protective myelin sheath that covers the nerves and disrupts communication between the brain and the rest of the body. The disease affects 700,000 people in Europe and approximately 2.5 million people worldwide.

Relapsing forms of MS are characterised by clearly defined, but unpredictable, attacks of worsening neurologic function, followed by partial or complete recovery periods. Approximately 85% of patients are initially diagnosed with relapsing forms of MS, compared with 10% to 15% with progressive forms of the disease.

Zeposia is designed to bind to S1P receptors 1 and 5, reducing the capacity of lymphocytes to migrate from lymphoid tissue and decreasing the number of circulating lymphocytes in the blood.

It was initially approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of relapsing forms of MS in March 2020, while the European Commission also authorised the drug for the treatment of adult patients with relapsing remitting MS with active disease in May 2020.