Cambridge, MA-based Biogen Idec and its Irish partner, Elan, said today they have started the first clinical trial of Tysabri as a cancer treatment. Tysabri, approved for multiple sclerosis and Crohn’s disease, is being studied initially in a trial of 12 patients with multiple myeloma, a deadly cancer of the bone marrow. The drug works by blocking the VLA4 protein, which is found on the surface of myeloma cells, the companies said in the statement. Tysabri suffered a setback this summer in multiple sclerosis, when two patients in Europe on the drug were diagnosed with PML, an often-fatal brain infection.
Author: Luke Timmerman
Luke is an award-winning journalist specializing in life sciences. He has served as national biotechnology editor for Xconomy and national biotechnology reporter for Bloomberg News. Luke got started covering life sciences at The Seattle Times, where he was the lead reporter on an investigation of doctors who leaked confidential information about clinical trials to investors. The story won the Scripps Howard National Journalism Award and several other national prizes. Luke holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and during the 2005-2006 academic year, he was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT.
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