More MS news articles for Sep 2001

Elan Optimistic About MS Cure

http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/010918/218/c4f23.html

Tuesday September 18, 12:30 PM

Despite the company's announcement, Elan's share price dropped by 20c today to E57, well down on this year's high of E73c last June.

Elan and Biogen are jointly developing Antegren, and Elan has told a European congress that Phase II, a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of MS patients ADVERTISEMENT

in the US, Canada and the UK were encouraging enough to move on to Phase 3.

Under Phase 2, patients received either of two Antegren doses (3 mg/kg or 6 mg/kg) or placebo by intravenous infusion every four weeks for six months.

The primary analysis was based on MRI scans and showed that patients treated with Antegren for six months had fewer new gadolinium-enhancing lesions than patients treated with placebo.

"The robust effects of Antegren in reducing MRI activity are promising and suggest that the agent's mechanism of action has potential as a new approach to treating MS. This will be investigated in further trials,' said David Miller, M.D., professor of neurology at the Institute of Neurology in London.

Elan and Biogen are also studying the potential of Antegren in Crohn's disease, a chronic inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract.