On Feb. 18, 2004, Elan and Biogen Idec announced their plan to submit a Biologics License Application (BLA) for Antegren (natalizumab) to the U.S. FDA for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) by the middle of this year. The surprise announcement was made after a consultation with the FDA of the drug’s one-year data from the two ongoing two-year Phase III trials in MS. The companies are committed to completing two-year trials and would not disclose the one-year data at this time, citing the necessity to protect the integrity of the results of the two-year trials, which will be submitted ... Read more

Tumor growth requires lots of nutrients that are supplied through blood vessels. Angiogenesis, the process of growing new blood vessels, has been a target for destruction in cancer therapy with mixed results. The idea is simple: if one cannot fight a big army in the battlefield, perhaps something can be done on the army’s logistics of food and water.

Dr. David Cheresh of The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, a leading researcher in the field of angiogenesis, and his colleagues, in collaboration with a group from Stanford University led by Dr. Mark Bednarski, have designed nanoparticles to ... Read more

Made by Elan and marketed by Elan and Biogen Idec, Tysabri is a molecularly humanized monoclonal antibody drug approved for treating relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis and moderately to severely active Crohn’s disease.

Tysabri targets certain types of integrin molecules that are expressed on certain immune cells, and blocks these cells in the blood vessels from migrating into tissues. Consequently, Tysabri inhibits the recruitment of immune cells to sites of inflammation where it calls for reinforcement.

Since Tysabri targets the cardinal process in which immune cells traverse the blood vessel walls into tissues (a process called extravasation) where they aggravate autoimmune/inflammatory responses, ... Read more