Written: By Julie Stachowiak, Ph.D.,
Tysabri Discontinuation?
Monday August 23, 2010
Looks like people at Biogen Idec and Elan Corp., makers of Tysabri, have something to worry about. I usually don’t follow the financials of the multiple sclerosis therapies too closely, but thought this one was pretty interesting.
An article in Dow Jones Newswires states “Deutsche Bank analyst Robyn Karnauskas recently projected that Tysabri’s patient discontinuation rate, currently 2% to 3%, will skyrocket when oral therapies are available. She projects 20% of patients on the drug will stop using it in 2011 and 25% in 2012.”
She predicts that US sales will decrease a full 40% by 2015 (from $633 million to $376 million), as new therapies come online. It is also not helping the situation that PML seems to be on the rise, with 5 new cases announced in the past week (see PML News That We Hate to Hear).
What about you? Are you on Tysabri? Are you planning to stay on it? Have you discontinued it? Why? Let us know your reasons in the comment section below.
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