September, 2001
ELAN, the Dublin-based pharmaceutical
company, is planning to move its Multiple Sclerosis drug Antegren into
Phase III trials later this year as part of its plans to grow revenues
to $10bn by 2005, chief executive Donal Geaney said.
Results from Phase II studies of
the drug were presented to a meeting of the European Congress on Treatment
and Research in Multiple Sclerosis in Dublin on Saturday last. The findings
show that patients treated with Antegren for six months had fewer lesions
than those treated with a placebo. The number of relapses was also reduced.
"We are very, very pleased with the
results. Very encouraged," Mr Geaney said.
"The most important thing about this
is that we saw some evidence of clinical improvement within six months.
Nothing else out there works within two years," he said.
If cleared for market, Antegren would
provide a very large boost to Elan's revenues, Mr Geaney said.
Based on the findings for MS and
also for Crohn's Disease, Elan will move ahead with trials in collaboration
with US group Biogen.
MS is a disorder in which the nerves
of the eye, brain and spinal chord lose patches of the protective sheath
which allows electrical impulses to be conducted along nerve fibres quickly
and accurately. The condition can lead to blurred vision, numbness and
jerkiness of the limbs. MS affects over one million people worldwide.
"Current treatments, while they play
a very useful role, don't seem to be as significant in potential as this
product (Antegren). The current market is a multi-billion dollar market,
so if we were as good as or better than current products if this works
I'd be very surprised if it was not a multi-billion dollar product," Mr
Geaney said.
Phase III is expected to involve
two years of study followed by some months of data collation before Antegren
could be filed with the US Food and Drug Administration.
"You're talking about not being able
to file anything until best case mid-2004. In theory, we could go to market
by mid-to-late 2005," Mr Geaney said.
Antegren may have applications for
other auto-immune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, inflammatory
bowel disease and colitis, he said.
Jim Aughney