Shares in Elan Corporation have scaled new heights on the New York market after the Irish pharmaceuticals group revealed that it has joined forces with the US group Biogen to develop treatments for multiple sclerosis and Crohn's disease. Elan said the companies would share equally the venture costs of developing Elan's Antegren.

In heavy trading, Elan - which more than doubled in price in the past few months - jumped $4 to a new high of $58, and by the close of trading was up $5.87 to $59.87 While the Antegren treatment being developed by Elan and Biogen will not reach the market until 2004 at the earliest, Elan chairman Mr Donal Geaney said that the linkup with Biogen meant the treatment could be brought to the market much quicker. "That's the point of the whole thing," he said.

Biogen chief executive Mr Jim Mullen said that by the time Antegren was developed, the market for multiple sclerosis drugs would have reached $3 billion.

"By the time Antegren comes to the market, the marketplace for the current group of MS drugs will be fairly mature," he said.

The drug's potential market could be larger if Antegren is found to be effective in treating Crohn's disease, a chronic inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal tract.

Mr Geaney said the alliance would give Elan access to expertise and infrastructure that should not only reduce costs, but bring the product to market more rapidly and efficiently.

"Biogen is an ideal partner for us with this particular product because they are a significant player in the whole multiple sclerosis field," he said.

Antegren is a humanised monoclonal antibody and the first in a new class of therapeutic treatments designed to block cell adhesion to blood vessel walls and the subsequent migration of white blood cells into tissue.

That means Antegren may be useful in treating inflammatory and non-inflammatory diseases, Elan says.