Should I be concerned about coronavirus and reschedule my Ocrevus infusion?

Here is My Question:
I am currently on Ocrevus and have been since May 2019. I have RRMS. I am scheduled for my next infusion on April 6th. If things continue in this direction with the current Coronavirus issue, should I possibly reschedule my next infusion a month or two later or until this has all been stabilized? I assume my immune system is at its best this month since I’m due next month but just not sure what to do. I know you can’t give direct medical advice but just curious if it may be safer to do the infusion or put it off. My MS specialist is amazing but the whole team is TERRIBLE about help between appointments. Any advice?

Answer:
We simply do not know how Coronavirus will evolve at this point. The question of when to re-dose the treatment should also consider how stable your MS really is. Ocrevus doesn’t have long term data yet and we have to use rituximab experience to understand how we could rationally use other b-cell biological (ie, ocrevus with off-label dozing strategies).  It is very likely that Ocrevus is over-dosed for MS and it may be reasonable to delay infusion if your neurologist feels your MS is under control. But once again, we do not know if the corona virus will be a seasonal issue or not.

Revere (Rip) Kinkel MD
Professor of Clinical Neurosciences
Director of the Multiple Sclerosis Program
Clinical Neurosciences Director
University of California San Diego