By Michelle Fay Cortez – Apr 15, 2011
Biogen Idec Inc. (BIIB) has identified high-risk patients taking its multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri who have a 1 in 100 chance of developing a potentially deadly brain infection from the medicine.
By analyzing risk factors including the length of time taking Tysabri, previous treatments and results of a blood test for antibodies to the virus that causes the infection, doctors may also spot patients with less than a 1 in 10,000 chance of developing the disease known as progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, or PML, a study showed. The drug’s U.S. label says the risk of PML is about 1 in 1,000 after two years of treatment.
The test for the JC virus should boost use of Tysabri over time, with peak sales of as much as $3 billion, said Corey Davis, an analyst at Jefferies & Co. in New York.
“If you test negative right now, you have a zero percent chance of getting PML,” since everyone who has the brain disease was previously infected, Davis said today in a telephone interview. “To better delineate the risk is going to be a very powerful tool for Tysabri.”
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