Neurology conference presents positive news for Elan

There was good news for embattled Athlone-based pharmaceutical company Elan overnight after data presented at a neurology conference showed treatment with under-fire multiple sclerosis (MS) drug Tysabri led to a significant reduction in progression of the disease.

Two-year data from the Affirm Phase III monotherapy trial presented at the conference for the first time, showed that treatment with Tysabri led to a 42% reduction in the rate of clinical relapses and brain lesions in patients with relapsing forms of MS.

The data was presented at the 57th annual American Academy of Neurology (AAN) meeting in Miami.

On February 28 this year, Elan and partner Biogen announced the voluntary suspension of Tysabri from the US market after two people taking the drug in conjunction with another drug, Avonex, died when they developed a central nervous system disease.

A third person - who had received eight doses of Tysabri over an 18-month period - was confirmed last month to have developed the same illness. Elan said the case had previously been diagnosed as malignant astrocytoma, but a reassessment revealed progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML, a rare infection of the brain and spinal cord) in a patient in a Crohn's disease clinical trial.