Elan just sold off two of its established drugs in favor of funding its pipeline-- in other words, they are collecting their cash to put the big bets on two drugs they think will be huge, particularly Antegren for MS. This is yet another positive for people hopeful that Antegren will be the next great MS treatment.

"DUBLIN, March 31 (Reuters) - Irish drugmaker Elan Corp has agreed to sell its North American and European interests in epilepsy treatment Zonegran to Japan's Eisai Co Ltd (for about $130 million, the company said on Wednesday.

Elan, which has hauled itself back from the brink of bankruptcy in 2002, said the deal would allow it to focus on the expected 2005 launch of two key drugs, Antegren for multiple sclerosis (MS) and Crohn's disease, and Prialt for severe pain...

"Elan is reverting to a pure play on its pipeline with the strategic disposal of Zonegran coming only hours after the sale of Frova," said Jack Gorman, analyst at Davy Stockbrokers, adding Elan was likely to use the cash to prepare its marketing infrastructure for the launch of Antegren and Prialt.

Some analysts estimate the MS market alone could be worth more than $6 billion by 2010 and that Elan's Antegren could take a 40 percent slice of it."

Sourced from: here

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