New data on Teva's Copaxone positive

Israeli drug major Teva Pharmaceutical Industries says results from a three-year study evaluating relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis patients who failed first-line monotherapy and switched treatments. The results demonstrated that patients who switched from interferon beta to its drug Copaxone (glatiramer acetate injection) experienced a 77% reduction in annualized relapse rates (0.63 to 0.14). In addition, these subjects did not progress significantly in their disability as measured by Expanded Disability Status Scale. The results of this study, entitled Therapeutic outcome three years after switching of immunomodulatory therapies in patients with RRMS in Argentina, were published in the April issue of the European Journal of Neurology.

All patients who switched among the immunomodulatory treatments benefited in terms of relapse rate reduction. However, those moving from interferon beta to Copaxone experienced no significant disability progression, while patient disability continued to increase in patients who switched from copaxone to interferon beta or from one interferon beta to another.