Efficacy and safety of ocrelizumab vs interferon beta-1a in participants of African descent with relapsing multiple sclerosis in the Phase III OPERA I and OPERA II studies

•OCR demonstrated treatment benefits vs IFN β-1a in participants of African-descent.•African- and non–African-descent participants had similar disease activity on OCR.•Compared with non-African descent participants, African-descent participants:◦had a greater baseline lesion burden and developed more lesions on IFN β-1a;◦were at greater risk of disability progression; and◦tended to experience more AEs, serious AEs, and hypersensitivity reactions.•Findings provide the first evidence for efficacy of anti-CD20 therapy in patients of African descent:◦67.7% showed no evidence of disease activity (NEDA)◦40.6% showed no evidence of progression or active disease (NEPAD)