BREAKING: Study Shows Genentech and Biogen Drug Rituxan Works on Multiple Sclerosis

CNBC ^ | Wed Feb 13, 2008 5:19pm EST | Mike Huckman

[HonestConservative]

Thank you Kickass.

We are voices in the wilderness.

[djreece]

marking

[Kickass Conservative]

I’m right there with you.

[patriciaruth]

I think that Mrs. Mitt Romney has MS.

This could be great news for a lot of people.

[patriciaruth]

My best knowledge, now probably outdated, was the Meniere’s was due to fluid build up in the inner ear cochlear endolymph system due to genetically or developmentally smaller diameter outlet for its drainage.

I had an attack of Meniere’s when I was retaining fluids just before I lost a pregnancy. Never since, but I’ve had real problems with motion sickness since I was a baby. And vertigo with heights, which may be related.

[patriciaruth]

James Watson, Francis Crick,

What did they do in U.S. with government subsidy? They were in England when they half stole, half figured out the double helix.

[patriciaruth]

When President Bush took office, he went to the INH (are those initials right?) and ask them what their goals were for the next 10 years as far as conquering and treating diseases.

They were flabberghasted. Goals? He had to prod them to come up with goals and allocation of funds. I believe they ended up thinking they could make progress with dyslexia, among a few other goals.

Wonder what happened after that. Our news media does like to hide things so. My BIL hadn’t heard about “Moon, Mars, and Beyond” goals for NASA, thought George wasn’t interested in Space.

[patriciaruth]

Correction: INH is a TB drug (isoniazide); NIH is the National Institute of Health.

My head is full of alphbet soup.

[Calm_Cool_and_Elected]

Thank you. If Genentech doesn't come through, I am going to ask my doctor to resubmit the request to the insurance company. I was hoping that since my husband works for a larger company, the insurance company is larger and my doctor is with a large, research, university hospital that my chances of getting approved would be good. Not the case.

CC&E

[CDHart]

Thanks for the post. My former boss has MS, and I appreciate finding anything that might give her hope. She's also an RN, so she knows exactly what her future holds at this point.

carolyn

[CDHart]

Note the phrase "brain legions." It should read "brain lesions." They don't even teach these journalists to spell any more.

Carolyn

[Caesar Soze]

Immunotherapy is turning out the be the answer for just about everything. I had a chronic condition that was pretty much eliminated after one infusion of a similar drug. The only down side... cost. I'm guessing this product will be north of $10K per infusion.

How would the annual cost of Rituxin treatment compare to current treatments? Even if the drug is more expensive than conventional treatments, there are savings to be realized by fewer doctor's visits, sick days, etc--one hopes.

[DelmarvaMike]

The high dose cytoxan treatment is a proxy for a bone marrow transplant. Basically, the cytoxan wipes out your entire immune system with the exception of the stem cells. So you are basically a “bubble boy” (Seinfeld reference) for about a week before the shot of Neulasta kicks in and you beginning growing new white and red blood cells from the stem cells. The doctors can’t call it a cure because it’s new and hasn’t been along long enough to see if it keeps the cancer away long term, but the results are very promising.

[DelmarvaMike]

Good luck to you as well. Since I’m an accountant, I never thought I would be familiar with so many drugs, but with both the CLL and MS, I’ve taken rituxan, cytoxan, avonex, neupogen, neulasta, and that doesn’t even include the antibiotics. This is an area that the drug companies are really helping out people like you and me, with all the new drugs and finding new ways to use drugs like rituxan. I used it for the CLL, but didn’t know it could be helpful for MS as well.

[Daus]

How would the annual cost of Rituxin treatment compare to current treatments?

I can't speak for the MS costs. But the line the HMO's tend to follow for the higher sticker priced drugs is will the drug prevent hospitalizations? If it will, then it's not too hard to get it approved.

The gray area is when you want one of these drugs to replace a semi-successfull, less expensive course of treatment. $10K to $30K/year for complete remission or $1K a year for partial remession?

[rdb3]

In the meantime, Tysabri is great stuff.

It sure is. I swear by it. The price is better now, and my neurologist said that it soon may be used at the very beginning of MS treatment for all cases.

[octobersky]

Hi cgk. Thanks for the ping. I hope all is well with you.

[Tolkien]

Thanks. This would be wonderful. She takes one injection a week of Avonex and at least it keeps the exacerbations away.

[Tolkien]

My wife has relapsing /remitting MS. I’ll let her know about this.

I hope this works for her! It would be wonderful if they could wipe out MS altogether.

Amen.

[ruination]

Whether or not you feel Watson and Crick deserve the credit they got, most of the funds that supported their - and Wilkins’ and Franklin’s - research was from the MRC, which is the U.K.’s counterpart to the NIH.