Elan's Tysabri viewed positively by CHMP

Ireland-based drugmaker Elan says that its multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri (natalizumab) has received a positive opinion from the European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use, recommending its approval as a treatment for MS patients with highly relapsing-remitting forms of the condition.

Specifically, the approval advice covers the compound's use in patients who have experienced failed beta interferon-based therapy or those who have rapidly-evolving severe MS. Analysts at Lehman brothers said that such approval would allow use of the drug by a broad range of patients, and predicted that Tysabri could take a 10% market share from Serono's older MS product Rebif (interferon beta-1a).