Tysabri May Promote Healing Around Nerves, Study Says
Summary
Tysabri May Promote Healing Around Nerves, Study Says Xconomy Boston — Cambridge, MA-based Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB) and its partner, Elan, catch a lot of heat because their fastest-growing drug for multiple sclerosis is associated with a rare, potentially fatal brain infection called PML.But today they are pushing back a bit with a study that suggests the drug may provide an important benefit to balance against the risk—the potential ability to help promote healing around the frayed nerves of MS patients.Researchers at the Jacobs Neurological Institute in Buffalo, NY, led by Robert Zivadinov, found that natalizumab promoted re-myelination and stabilized de-myelination in lesions and brain tissue that appeared normal.Existing MS drugs mostly work by tamping down the excess inflammation that that harms the myelin coating, but they don’t really stop the short-circuiting of nerve signals that gradually robs people of their balance, and ability to walk.Scientists have not observed that older drugs work well enough to allow myelin to naturally regenerate, but that’s one possibility for what was happening with patients in this study on natalizumab, says Al Sandrock, Biogen’s senior vice president for neurology R&D.