Biogen Prepares First Study For Early Use Of MS Drug Tysabri

Biogen Idec Inc.’s drug, Tysabri, is currently being used for patients with very aggressive multiple sclerosis. The company is now launching a study, designated Surpass, promoting the use of Tysabri at earlier stages of the disease.

Tysabri has been a controversial treatment of MS due to the risk of contracting Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy (PML), a rare viral disease that damages the myelin covering of the white brain matter. In January 2010 the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use of the European Medicines Agency concluded that the benefit-risk ratio of Tysabri was weighted in the drugs favor. Biogen Idec Inc.’s executives hope to prove this to be true through the planned study.

This study has been planned at an opportune time, due to increased competition in the MS drug market. Drug companies Sereno and Novartis are currently testing oral MS drugs instead of the injectable drugs now available.

The purpose of Surpass is to get physicians to prescribe Tysabri when patients are non-responsive to their current therapy. Presently, physicians will merely switch to another mainstream therapy. The planned study will monitor around 1,800 patients for two years. As a result, the data will not be released until 2013 or 2014.