By Meg Tirrell - 2012-07-17T20:07:56Z 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 today 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 today. 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 … Continue reading →

CTVNews.ca Staff Published Tuesday, Jul. 17, 2012 1:44PM EDT Last Updated Tuesday, Jul. 17, 2012 4:46PM EDT Many multiple sclerosis patients have complained for years that commonly used MS drugs called beta interferons dont do much to stop the disease from getting worse. Now, new research appears to back them up. A study from researchers at the University of British Columbia and the UBC Hospital MS Clinic and Brain Research Centre found no strong evidence that the drugs had much of an impact on the long-term progression of the disease. Beta interferons are the most widely used treatment for relapse-remitting MS, which is the most common form of MS in Canada, affecting about 85 per cent of patients. In this form of the disease, new symptoms such as partial paralysis, numbness and lack of coordination can appear for or old ones can resurface or worsen. The relapses are followed by periods of weeks or months in which the patient fully or partially recovers. For the study, the team looked at the health records of 2,656 British Columbia patients between 1985 and 2008. They included those with MS who were treated with beta interferons, as well as untreated MS patients. The … Continue reading →

CTVNews.ca Staff Published Tuesday, Jul. 17, 2012 1:44PM EDT Last Updated Tuesday, Jul. 17, 2012 4:46PM EDT Many multiple sclerosis patients have complained for years that commonly used MS drugs called beta interferons dont do much to stop the disease from getting worse. Now, new research appears to back them up. A study from researchers at the University of British Columbia and the UBC Hospital MS Clinic and Brain Research Centre found no strong evidence that the drugs had much of an impact on the long-term progression of the disease. Beta interferons are the most widely used treatment for relapse-remitting MS, which is the most common form of MS in Canada, affecting about 85 per cent of patients. In this form of the disease, new symptoms such as partial paralysis, numbness and lack of coordination can appear for or old ones can resurface or worsen. The relapses are followed by periods of weeks or months in which the patient fully or partially recovers. For the study, the team looked at the health records of 2,656 British Columbia patients between 1985 and 2008. They included those with MS who were treated with beta interferons, as well as untreated MS patients. The … Continue reading →

Public release date: 17-Jul-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ] Contact: Brian Lin brian.lin@ubc.ca 604-822-2234 University of British Columbia Researchers with the UBC Hospital MS Clinic and Brain Research Centre at Vancouver Coastal Health and the University of British Columbia have published important data in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) about the impact of a common drug therapy on the progression of multiple sclerosis for people with the relapsingremitting form of the disease. The study, led by Drs. Helen Tremlett, Afsaneh Shirani, Joel Oger and others, shows no strong evidence that a group of drugs, beta interferons (-IFNs), prescribed to treat MS had a measurable impact on the long-term disability progression of the disease. The team examined the linked health records of 2656 BC patients between 1985 - 2008 in a retrospective cohort study, which means data from already collected sources were linked together in an anonymized form and studied. Data sources included the BC Ministry of Health, PharmaNet and the BC Multiple Sclerosis (BCMS) database, facilitated by Population Data BC. The study population included patients with MS who were treated with beta interferons (-IFNs), the most widely used treatment for relapsingremitting MS, as well as untreated … Continue reading →

ScienceDaily (July 17, 2012) Researchers with the UBC Hospital MS Clinic and Brain Research Centre at Vancouver Coastal Health and the University of British Columbia have published important data in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) about the impact of a common drug therapy on the progression of multiple sclerosis for people with the relapsing-remitting form of the disease. The study, led by Drs. Helen Tremlett, Afsaneh Shirani, Joel Oger and others, shows no strong evidence that a group of drugs, beta interferons (-IFNs), prescribed to treat MS had a measurable impact on the long-term disability progression of the disease. The team examined the linked health records of 2656 BC patients between 1985 -- 2008 in a retrospective cohort study, which means data from already collected sources were linked together in an anonymized form and studied. Data sources included the BC Ministry of Health, PharmaNet and the BC Multiple Sclerosis (BCMS) database, facilitated by Population Data BC. The study population included patients with MS who were treated with beta interferons (-IFNs), the most widely used treatment for relapsing-remitting MS, as well as untreated MS patients. The research team discovered that administration of -IFN was not associated with a … Continue reading →

Newswise CHICAGO Among patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS), treatment with the widely-prescribed drug to treat MS, interferon beta, was not associated with less progression of disability, according to a study in the July 18 issue of JAMA. "A key feature of MS is clinical progression of the disease over time manifested by the accumulation of disability. Interferon beta drugs are the most widely prescribed disease-modifying drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of relapsing-onset MS, the most common MS disease course," according to background information in the article. The authors add that there is a lack of well-controlled longitudinal studies investigating the effect of interferon beta on disability progression. Afsaneh Shirani, M.D., of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, and colleagues conducted a study to investigate the association between interferon beta exposure and disability progression in relapsing-remitting MS. The study included prospectively collected data (1985-2008) from British Columbia. Patients with relapsing-remitting MS treated with interferon beta (n = 868) were compared with untreated contemporary (n = 829) and historical (prior to the approval of interferon beta) (n = 959) groups. The primary outcome measured was time from interferon beta treatment eligibility (baseline) to … Continue reading →