Martin's comments boost Elan

Shares in pharmaceuticals group Elan jumped yesterday on bullish comments from chief executive Kelly Martin on the prospects for the company's suspended multiple sclerosis drug, Tysabri.

Addressing the group's agm in Dublin, Mr Martin said he was confident the drug would return to the US market.

He told shareholders that the company and its partner, Biogen, were on course to conclude a review of trial patients by the end of June or early July and would meet the US regulator, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in late summer.

Acknowledging that recent events, both with Tysabri and a number of other US approved drugs, had made the regulator more cautious, he nonetheless expressed confidence that discussions over the drug's future "will not take very long".

Speaking after the meeting, he said the company did not expect to have to conduct further trials before returning the drug to market, although it may have to put other measures in place.

The Elan boss refuses to concede that the drug once seen as a blockbuster for the company now has limited potential.

"There is still extremely high interest in the drug and it remains the only product with the potential to halt the progression of MS," he told shareholders.

"We obviously cannot predict the impact the temporary pause in sales will have on patient behaviour," he said. "The slope of the sales curve may be a little different as people will be more cautious."

He also defended the decision to withdraw the drug from sale and suspend all trials following the discovery that two trial patients had contracted a very rare and usually fatal neurological disease, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML).

Asked by a shareholder whether the company had overreacted, he said: "Our company and the FDA is in the business of patient lives and if you are not sure what has happened, the decision we took was the only prudent decision you could take."

He said 5,000 MS patients were taking Tysabri at the time of the suspensions on top of 3,000 trial patients.

However, documents indicated that the figure was heading for between 25,000 and 30,000 in a few months which would have presented even greater problems.

The company's shares jumped 17 per cent at one stage yesterday and closed 11 per cent stronger in Dublin on €6.20.