Serono: Patients Switching To Rebif From Avonex Benefit
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Posted by Dow Jones Business News on June 18, 2003 at 21:04:41:
GENEVA -(Dow Jones)- Swiss biopharmaceutical company Serono SA said new data presented Wednesday shows multiple sclerosis patients who switched to its Rebif medicine from rival product Avonex showed significant reduction in the frequency of relapses.
Rebif is Serono's fastest growing product. It gained approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (News - Websites) just over a year ago. Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE - News) , the world's largest pharmaceutical company, is a co-promoter of the product in the U.S. U.S. company Biogen Inc.'s Avonex is a comparable treatment because both are human proteins produced in mammalian cells. Both products are indicated for the treatment of patients with relapsing forms of MS to slow the accumulation of physical disability. The study, called Evidence, involved 677 patients with relapsing remitting MS, the most common form of the illness. The study was designed to compare the proportion of patients who were treated with either Rebif or Avonex who remained relapse-free after 24 weeks, the primary endpoint, and 48 weeks of therapy, Serono said. The results showed that patients treated with Rebif were significantly more likely to remain relapse-free at 24 and 48 weeks than were patients treated with Avonex, Serono said. In addition, patients taking Rebif had fewer active lesions per MRI scan for all studied activity measures. Magnetic resonance imaging or MRI is a test that provides pictures of organs and structures inside the body. Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, often progressive disease. It affects the nervous system and is the most common, non-traumatic, neurological disease in young adults. MS may affect around two million people worldwide, Serono said. While symptoms can vary, the most common symptoms of MS include blurred vision, numbness or tingling in the limbs and problems with strength and coordination.
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