Novartis to highlight Gilenya data at neurology congress
pharmafile | April 13, 2015 | News story | Sales and Marketing | American Academy of Neurology, Novartis, fingolimod, gilenya
Novartis will be highlighting data for its multiple sclerosis drug Gilenya at this year’s American Academy of Neurology (AAN) annual meeting in Washington.
The firm says that analysis will confirm high efficacy of Gilenya (fingolimod) in achieving ‘no evidence of disease activity’ in patients with previously-treated highly-active relapsing MS.
Vasant Narasimhan, who is the global head of development at Novartis, says: “These Gilenya data and new methods of assessing the impact of MS have the potential to give physicians a more comprehensive picture of an individual’s disease and allow patients to better understand their MS.”
The statistics have been taken from two-year Phase III and Phase II trials that showed positive evidence across key measures including relapses and MRI lesions.
Further data will also be announced explaining how adding brain shrinkage (brain volume loss) to a tool, developed in collaboration with leading MS experts and Microsoft Research, may have the potential to change how neurological dysfunction and disability progression are assessed.
Assess-MS is a project in early development which uses the Microsoft Kinect movement recording system to calculate an individual’s level of disability in a non-invasive, patient-friendly manner.
Novartis’ Gilenya has had overall sales of $666 million, which contributed to the firm’s fourth quarter sales of $14.6 billion in 2014. The MS drug is approved in the US for the first-line treatment of relapsing forms of the disease, while in Europe it’s indicated for adult patients with highly active relapsing-remitting MS.
MS is a chronic disorder of the central nervous system that disrupts the normal functioning of the brain, optic nerves and spinal cord through inflammation and tissue loss.
According to the MS Society the disease affects around 100,000 people in the UK alone. Most of whom are diagnosed between the ages of 20-40 but can affect younger and older people also.
Tom Robinson
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