By Meg Tirrell - 2012-07-18T04:00:01Z The most commonly prescribed multiple sclerosis drugs, including those made by Biogen Idec Inc. (BIIB), Bayer AG (BAYN) and Merck KGaA, failed to slow disability progression in a long-term study that raises new questions on whether the treatments can achieve that goal. Researchers compared historical outcomes for MS patients in British Columbia to assess the use of interferon beta drugs. The results, published online in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found the medicines didnt delay progress of the patients disability. It dampens somewhat the enthusiasm for so-called first- line therapies, said Ludwig Kappos of University Hospital in Basel, Switzerland, and author of an editorial that accompanied the study, in an e-mail. MS is an autoimmune disease that affects about 2.1 million people worldwide and can lead to limb numbness, loss of vision and paralysis, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The most common form, relapsing-remitting, is characterized by sporadic flare-ups followed by periods of inactivity. Avonex, made by Biogen, Bayers Betaseron and Merck KGaA (MRK)s Rebif generated $6.6 billion in 2011 revenue, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Called disease-modifying drugs, they have been shown to slow the frequency of relapses and … Continue reading →

18 July 2012 Last updated at 01:05 ET By Vincent Kearney BBC NI home affairs correspondent The new head of the Northern Ireland prison service has rejected claims that illegal drugs are an inevitable part of prison life. Recent reports by the prisoner ombudsman has linked drugs to the deaths of two prisoners in Maghaberry and accused the prison authorities of tolerating the problem. However, Sue McAllister, who has just taken over as director general of the prison service insisted this was not the case. She said measures would be introduced to tackle the drugs problem. Ms McAllister started her new job quietly at the start of this month and has spent the time since meeting prison staff and some of the prisoners held in Northern Ireland's three jails. She is the first woman to hold the post of director general of the NI prison service. The 51-year-old mother of two knows more than most about the problems and challenges it faces. She was part of a review team appointed after the death of Colin Bell, who hanged himself in his cell in Maghaberry while on suicide watch in July 2008. In a highly critical report published three years ago, … Continue reading →

By Shannon Pettypiece and Robert Langreth - 2012-07-18T14:30:00Z Deaths from AIDS continued to decline last year as the number of people on HIV drugs worldwide surged 21 percent from 2010, according to a report that found poor and middle income countries spent more on treatment. Deaths dropped 5.6 percent to 1.7 million in 2011 from the previous year as 8 million people in developing regions gained access to medicines that fight the infection, according to a report today from UNAIDS, the United Nations program to treat and prevent the illness. In Sub-Sahara Africa, where 69 percent of people with HIV live, the number on therapy jumped to 6.2 million from 100,000 in 2003. There is still a huge gap from where we should be, but the world is doing better, said Mitchell Warren, executive director of AVAC: Global Advocacy for HIV Prevention, in a telephone interview. The big story is no longer about the science; it is about the money and politics. The two biggest questions now are where is the money coming from and where is it going to go. About 7 million people infected with HIV in low income countries still need drugs and dont get them, the … Continue reading →

Interferon Beta Treatment Did Not Slow Progression of Disability in Study July 17, 2012 -- Disease-modifying drugs have been game-changers for the treatment of multiple sclerosis. The drugs help prevent relapses, but now new research questions whether they slow progression of disability from the disease. In a study of patients with relapsing-remitting MS, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, use of the most widely prescribed disease-modifying drugs, interferon beta, was not associated with a delay in disability progression. Patients treated with interferon beta were no less likely than untreated patients to progress to the point where they required a cane to walk, which is a benchmark measure of disease progression. "Treatment with beta interferon was not associated with a delay in progression to disability," says researcher Helen Tremlett, PhD, of the University of British Columbia. "It may be that in subgroups of patients these drugs do slow disease progression, but we were not able to show this." As many as 2.5 million people worldwide and 350,000 people in the U.S. have multiple sclerosis, a progressive disease of the central nervous system that leaves most patients functionally disabled within a decade or two of diagnosis. In 1993, the … Continue reading →