Why is Avonex so important?
This is the first time a drug has been available that really treats the disease. And continuing research has really changed the practice of how you treat MS. Research at the Cleveland Clinic showed that MS patients in early stages of disease have brain shrinkage and cell death. Avonex reduced brain shrinkage by more than 50% within a two-year period of time. We demonstrated that, at the first sign of a suspected MS condition, you can significantly reduce the chances you will convert to a full MS patient. It has taken quite some time to develop this market, because many MS patients are in denial. The availability of treatment has brought people out of the closet. When we first introduced the drug, the estimate for the number of patients was 250,000. Now, those estimates are up to around 350,000 to 400,000 in the U.S. and 1 million patients worldwide. Q: Why is your drug better than your competitors’? A: The real advantage of our drug is that it’s a beta interferon, a naturally occurring
