New Elan drug gets thumbs up

A panel of European experts yesterday backed the use of Elan’s painkiller Prialt, giving a fillip to Ireland’s leading drug maker.

The London-based European Medicines Agency said its committee also recommended use of Azilect, a treatment for Parkinson’s disease from Israel’s Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd and Truvada, an anti-HIV drug from Gilead Sciences Inc.