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Researchers report drug mobilizes a kind of cell easily infected by a virus that attacks the brain.

Researchers report that they think they have figured out why patients who take the multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri face a high risk of developing a rare, and sometimes fatal, brain infection....... Read More - http://www.ms-uk.org/tysabri

"Right now, the risk of PML in patients treated with [Tysabri] for more than two years is about one in 75 patients. That's a very high risk," said study author Eugene Major, a senior investigator at the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) in Bethesda, Md.

It seems like this number justs keeps getting bigger and bigger.

MSUK wrote:Researchers report drug mobilizes a kind of cell easily infected by a virus that attacks the brain.

Researchers report that they think they have figured out why patients who take the multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri face a high risk of developing a rare, and sometimes fatal, brain infection....... Read More - http://www.ms-uk.org/tysabri

The drug that Biogen told us initially was safe to take!! And now we are finding out it is even riskier than ever for MS patients. Wonder if the execs at Biogen really care after making billions so far from its sales?

This is out of left field but I wonder if those same B cells that are susceptible to jcv infection are also susceptible to ebv infection. If ebv contributes to ms, maybe the problems when stopping tysabri are related to a higher number of ebv infected B cells, not immune reconstitution. Just a thought.