Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Biogen shares drop on 10th Tysabri PML case - Triangle Business Journal:

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The patient, who lives overseazs and had been taking Tysabrj for more than30 months, is the 10th persom to come down with PML since the multiple sclerosis drug was allowesd back onto pharmacy shelveas in 2006. Three of those cases have been diagnosesthis month. The news prompted to lower its ratingb onBiogen Idec’s stoclk to “hold” from “buy.” Investors responded with a sell-off that pushedx shares of Biogen BIIB) down 6.1 percent, to as of 1:20 p.m. which Biogen Idec produces at its manufacturing facilituy in ResearchTriangle Park, is seen as a critically important product for the companyu and its partner on the Irish pharma Elan (NYSE: ELN).
Tysabr i was intended to be an improvedd treatment for MS that could take the placer of blockbuster MStreatment Avonex, Biogen’s top-sellintg drug and one also made in RTP. But Tysabri has had troubld with PML since first coming on the marketin 2004. The drug was shelved by the in 2005 becauses three patients who had taken Tysabr i in clinical trialsdeveloped PML, with two of the casexs fatal.
The FDA alloweed Tysabri back on the marke t a year later under a special risk monitoring Tysabri has worked well to combat multiplr sclerosis symptoms in patients but it has not generated the revenue the Bioge n and Elan hadprojected – due in most part to PML The three PML cases reported this monthj have come in patients who had taken Tysabri for 30 months or longer, and fear s are growing that prolonged exposure to Tysabri increasesd the risk of PML. Biogen Idec disputea that conclusion. Still, some doctors have started givinfg patients a holiday from Tysabri in an efforgt toavoid PML.
In such a patient takes Tysabri for two years before takingv a break from the drug and turningt to other therapies for That trend is putting further downward pressure onthe drug’s Cambridge, Mass.-based Biogen which employs almost 1,000 peoplwe in RTP, said in Februarhy that it would struggle to meet its goal of 100,00p Tysabri patients by 2011. The news of yet another PML case likelyu puts that target even further outof

1 comment:

  1. Tysabri has always been a controversial treatment especially since the PML cases have been recorded. Despite these risks many MS patients choose this treatment simply because it works for them better then any other treatment before. Others are not willing to take the risks. Each decision differs from each individual. The company producing the drug monitors the PML cases developed during Tysabri treatment and releases periodic reports and safety information about the risks. It is good to know about these risk, especially since treatments for progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy are not very effective. In conclusion the best way to avoid an unvanted PML complication is to be informed of the risks and have the latest data available. As far as I know, as of 2012 there were 207 Tysabri related PML cases. The risks vary from situation to situation. The highest risk of PML are in case of those patients who are tested positive for the JC virus, are on the drug for more then two years and previously used other immunosuppressant drugs.

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