Health Canada approves updates to Tysabri product monograph to include anti-JC virus antibody status



Health Canada has approved a product monograph change for Tysabri® that will help enable individual benefit risk assessment for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). The new label identifies anti-JC virus (JCV) antibody status as a risk factor for developing an uncommon, but serious, brain infection known as progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML). This marks the third risk factor identified to help ...

Multiple sclerosis patients taking natalizumab are at higher risk of developing progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) if they are positive for the anti-JC virus antibodies, have been treated with immunosuppressants, and have been treated with natalizumab for longer periods, according to a study published in the May 17 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Gary Bloomgren, M.D., and colleagues from Biogen Idec in Weston, Mass., estimated the risk of PML based on the ...

Hi, I'm new to this forum, and I live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

My 14-year old daughter was diagnosed with RRMS one year ago, and we are almost at the end of our ropes! She has been hospitilized at least 8 times in one year because the MS is extremely active. She seems to get relapse after relapse after relapse and only short periods of remission. She has been on Copaxone, steroids, IVIG, Cyclophosphamide and ...

I'm in the states and it seems like the doctors here are saying this means I have to come off Tysabri. I see references to a lot of our British members having a steroid booster with each infusion, is this to manage an allergy to Tysabri, are people able to continue taking it when they have developed antibodies to it there?

Accidental fetal exposure to natalizumab did not appear associated with shorter mean birth length, lower mean birth weight, or lower mean gestational age in pregnant multiple sclerosis patients, according to small studies presented here.

Based on data from an MS and MS and pregnancy registry in Germany, seven babies born to MS patients were exposed to natalizumab (Tysabri) during the third trimester and two were found to have profound anemia at birth, but both ...

Biogen Idec and Elan Corporation announced findings from several studies of Tysabri(R) (natalizumab) evaluating its long-term safety and efficacy in the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) across the course of disease and impact on MS-related symptoms such as fatigue. These data, as well as data relating to the companies' risk stratification algorithm as a way to help enable individual benefit risk assessment for patients with MS, were accepted for presentation at the 64th Annual ...

He has had MS from about 10 years of age.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/video/national/watch/29090259/

Multiple sclerosis patients treated with natalizumab were more likely to discontinue therapy after learning of a positive JCV antibody result, only to see a higher risk for relapse, according to a small, single-center study reported here.

Of nine patients who discontinued natalizumab (Tysabri) after learning their antibody result, which indicated a heightened risk for progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) -- a rare but life-threatening event -- five relapsed within 6 months, said Denise Cheng, RN, ...

Antibody to α4 integrin suppresses natural killer cells infiltration in CNS



Abstract
Natalizumab inhibits the influx of leukocytes into the central nervous system (CNS) via blockade of alpha-4 subunit of very late activation antigen (VLA)-4.

The association of natalizumab therapy with progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) suggests a disturbance of CNS immune surveillance in a small percentage of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients exposed to the medication.

Natural killer (NK) cells are known to play an ...

This was posted on one of the fb groups that I follow. An interesting read for a newbie like me, for some its probably old news, but interesting none the less.

Death and Dividends: The Tysabri Debacle
 
 
For the last three to four years neurologists have been talking about the coming of a much more effective drug for MS. That drug was first called Antegren and then Tysabri. The story of Tysabri illustrates ...