There are an estimated 2.3 million people living with Multiple Sclerosis and hundreds of thousands more undiagnosed, adding up to an annual cost of nearly $85 billion for care in the United States.
Multiple sclerosis is a devastating disease of the central nervous system that has no known cause or cure. There are an estimated 2.3 million people who are living with the disease and hundreds of thousands more who remain undiagnosed, which has created an annual cost of nearly $85 billion for care in the United States.
A report in Neurology, which was first reported by Science Daily, highlighted the vast medical costs patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) face. According to the report, the researchers discovered that excess medical costs averaging $65,612 per person represent 74% of the overall economic burden of MS. These annual costs represented the costs of medication and healthcare, as well as the loss of earnings due to the disease. The report noted that there is an additional burden on family members who often take time away from work to serve as caregivers, which in turn adds to the loss of earnings.
The data showed the total economic burden of MS in the U.S. is currently $85.4 billion. The breakdown included $63.3 billion in direct medical costs and $22.1 billion in indirect non-medical costs. Prescription drugs accounted for $37.9 million of that direct medical costs, with another $6.7 billion for medications administered in a clinic. Outpatient care added up to about $5.5 billion.
Bruce Bebo, the executive vice president of research at the National MS Society and the study author, said the findings of the new report underscore the burden of multiple sclerosis in the United States. He told Science Daily that they hope the study results will inform decision-making regarding MS-related health resources.
As the cost of care for MS increases, so too does the market size for drugmakers, particularly since there is no cure for the disease in which the immune system attacks the protective myelin sheath that covers the nerves, creating damaging lesions that make it harder for signals to travel between each nerve cell. According to Fortune Business Insights, the market size for MS is expected to increase to $42 billion by 2028, a significant increase from the market value of $27.38 billion in 2021.
There are multiple MS drugs on the market for different forms of the disease, including Lemtrada, Novantrone, Ocrevus, Zeposia, Ponovori, Tysabri and others. Even with the plethora of medications, researchers continue to dive deeper in order to better understand the disease to develop better, more lasting therapies.
Earlier this year, researchers looked into the potential relationship between the Epstein-Barr virus and multiple sclerosis. In February, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) noted that researchers found a higher rate of viral infection among people who developed MS than those in the control group. The research team calculated that people infected with EBV were 32 times more likely to develop MS than uninfected people. Additionally, that research team did not find any association between MS and any other virus, including cytomegalovirus, a virus related to Epstein Barr.
Diving into that theory is Bay Area-based Atara Biotherapeutics, which is developing a potential off-the-shelf T-cell candidate aimed at B cells infected by the Epstein-Barr virus in MS patients. The company hopes its investigational asset can catalyze autoimmune responses and MS pathophysiology. Atara is currently enrolling participants in a Phase II study of ATA188 in patients with progressive forms of MS.
Last year, the company announced Phase I data that showed early progress in this approach, showcasing magnetization transfer ratio imaging data that was suggestive of remyelination. Atara reported that 20 of the 24 patients who were evaluated for efficacy saw signs of improvement or stabilization of disease.
