My Tysabri Diary...,

I had my 38th Tysabri infusion on Wednesday, 9/2. All went well as usual, no problems... yaaay!

I thought I would post a recent press release about Tysabri as follows:

http://newsroom.elan.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=88326&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1330919&highlight=

Data Supporting Unique Efficacy of TYSABRI Presented at the 25th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis

Which states in part:

"[Data] showing the potential of TYSABRI^® (natalizumab) to redefine successful multiple sclerosis (MS) therapy. These data were from observational studies and retrospective analyses of the Phase III AFFIRM clinical trial, demonstrating that TYSABRI:

• Significantly improves measures of physical and cognitive disability using the Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite (MSFC) in patients from the AFFIRM trial with baseline impairment;
• Promoted regeneration or stabilization of damage to the myelin sheath, which can cause some of the symptoms seen in MS patients, as measured by advanced MRI technology; and
• Shows improvement in quality of life as reported by patients.

"MS patients should expect more from an MS therapy and studies such as these demonstrate the potential for TYSABRI to satisfy their expectations," said Michael Panzara, M.D., M.P.H., vice president and chief medical officer of neurology, Biogen Idec. “These data presented at ECTRIMS show that, for many MS patients, TYSABRI may lead to improvement in a broad range of physical and cognitive symptoms.”

“The strong efficacy profile demonstrated in clinical trials is enhanced further from these and other important TYSABRI data presented at ECTRIMS," said Carlos Paya, M.D., Ph.D., president, Elan Corporation. “TYSABRI is the first approved MS therapy with reported data suggesting some signs of the progression of MS can be stopped, whether measured by clinical, radiological or patient-reported measures.”

The data goes on to state the following, and details of the analyses is contained in their press release:

TYSABRI significantly improves physical and cognitive function

TYSABRI stabilizes and restores damage to the myelin sheath

TYSABRI patients report improvement in physical and psychological well-being

"TYSABRI is approved in more than 40 countries. In the U.S., it is approved for relapsing forms of MS and in the European Union for relapsing-remitting MS. According to data from the Phase III AFFIRM trial published in the New England Journal of Medicine, after two years, TYSABRI treatment led to a 68 percent relative reduction (p<0.001) in the annualized relapse rate, when compared with placebo, and reduced the relative risk of disability progression by 42-54 percent (p<0.001).

TYSABRI is redefining success in the treatment of MS. In post-hoc analyses of the Phase III AFFIRM trial and as published in The Lancet Neurology, 37 percent of TYSABRI-treated patients remained free of their MS activity, compared to seven percent of placebo-treated patients. In addition, data has been presented showing that treatment with TYSABRI significantly increased the probability of sustained improvement in disability in patients with a baseline expanded disability status scale (EDSS) score ≥ 2.0 by 69 percent relative to placebo."

Pretty impressive proven data, don't you think? (Smiling)

Oh I forgot to tell you all that Élan Pharmaceuticals invited me to come up to San Francisco and speak at their "Employee Day"..., pretty exciting for me! (They'll probably all be bored to death - heehee).

I'll report more when I get back home (I'll probably include this in my 39th Tysabri infusion report which will be on 9/30).

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

((((hugs))))

Love, Lauren :)