CAMBRIDGE, Mass. & DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Biogen Idec (NASDAQ: BIIB) and Elan Corporation, plc (NYSE: ELN) today announced five-times as many multiple sclerosis (MS) patients taking TYSABRI® (natalizumab) were free from disease activity versus placebo in the overall patient population. Results from this retrospective analysis showed that two years after beginning treatment with TYSABRI, 37 percent of patients remained free of disease activity, compared to seven percent of placebo-treated patients. Sixty-four percent of patients showed no sign of relapse or sustained disability progression and 58 percent were free of radiological disease activity. Both of these measures were used to define freedom from disease activity in this analysis of the AFFIRM clinical trial. These data were published online today and in the March 2009 issue of The Lancet Neurology.
