Bitnile Bittorrent php-nuke - New Brain-Disease Case Tied to Drug

By KEITH J. WINSTEIN A US multiple-sclerosis patient taking the drug Tysabri contracted a deadly brain infection, marking the sixth such case and darkening the commercial prospects for the medicine, already withdrawn from the market once over safety...

Pharmaceuticals Elan reports third PML case in MS patient Thursday, 30 October 2008 08:09 Elan and its partner Biogen have reported a third case of the brain disease PML in a patient taking their multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri. Overnight in New York the news sent Biogen's shares down by 17% and Elan's down by 28%. In July, two cases of PML were reported in patients taking Tysabri, and the companies then decided to revise the drug's prescribing information. Advertisement The companies withdrew Tysabri from the market in February 2005 after three patients, two of whom died, contracted PML. The drug returned to the market in 2006 with warnings after the US Food and Drug Administration decided MS patients willing to accept the risks should be able to have access to the drug's potential benefits. The drug is given by injection once a month. Just last week, Elan reported a 53% jump in third quarter revenues, driven by the continued growth of Tysabri. It said the drug generated in-market sales of $237m on a worldwide basis this quarter. That represented an increase of 154% over the $93.3m recorded the same time last year. Elan said that Tysabri is fast approaching blockbuster status, defined in the industry as revenues exceeding $1 billion a year. It said that by the end of September, about...
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