Irish firm surges on back of MS drug

Elan Corporation, the long-troubled Irish drugs maker now on the rebound, surged on stock markets today after reporting that its trial drug for treating multiple sclerosis, Antegren, has been fast-tracked for potential approval in the United States.

Elan and its US partner, Biogen Idec of Cambridge, Massachusetts, applied last month to the US Food and Drug Administration for Antegren’s approval.

Elan announced today that the FDA had made Antegren subject to “priority review and accelerated approval". That could cut the time it takes for the drug to reach the market by four to six months.

Elan surged early on the Dublin market and was up 6% at €20.89 in late afternoon. On the New York Stock Exchange, shares also topped £14.70 for the first time in two years, then eased on profit-taking at midday to £14.60, still up 0.87%.

Elan shares have quintupled in value since falling below €4.50 a year ago, when analysts were openly wondering whether the Athlone-headquartered company would go bankrupt.

Elan was once Ireland’s highest-flying company and a darling of international investors, who were attracted by its focus on finding treatments or cures for diseases of the brain and nervous system, particularly Alzheimer’s.

Shares went into free fall in 2002 over a wave of bad news. First, Elan’s long-touted cure for Alzheimer’s was dropped after trials found it caused potentially fatal brain inflammation. Then, Elan admitted hiding loss-making activities in the accounts of partnerships.

In the past year a new management team has aggressively sold off assets and licences, ended peripheral joint ventures and focused on core products. Analysts say the most important in the pipeline is Antegren, which is designed to help many of the approximately one million people worldwide suffering from multiple sclerosis.

Lars Ekman, Elan’s executive vice president and president of its research and development arm, said he hoped that Antegren – which is also known by the generic name natalizumab – “will offer a new approach to treating MS and will bring hope to patients living with this disease".