Elan said today that a safety audit of its Tysabri drug has reported no new cases of side effects such as PML and intends to relaunch the drug as early as next year.
Elan narrowed losses in the third quarter to $67.1 million from $107.8 last year due to strong growth in product revenue from its existing businesses and net gains from divestments. Total revenue increased 27 per cent to $128.6 million.
Elan and research partner Biogen Idec were forced to halt trials of Tysabri, a potential blockbuster drug for the treatment of MS, after two patients died of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) while undergoing trial treatment.
Last night Biogen said it expects to relaunch Tysabri in the US by mid-2006 and to begin sales in Europe in the second half of next year.