Elan boosted bylatest Tysabri trials

ELAN said yesterday that trials showed Crohn’s disease patients being treated with its Tysabri drug remained in remission for longer than two years.

An Elan statement said: “93% of Tysabri patients who were in remission at month 12 were still in remission following six additional Tysabri infusions and 86% were still in remission after 12 additional infusions.”

The company developed the drug with Biogen Idec.

Shares in Elan collapsed in February 2005 when Tysabri was pulled from the market as a treatment for multiple sclerosis after it was linked to the rare, but potentially fatal, brain disease progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy. It returned to the market in July after a review attached stricter prescription guidelines.