Biogen jumps on strong MS drug data: Sanofi's Lemtrada significant improvement on Rebif

US biotech firm Biogen Idec (Nasdaq: BIIB) saw its shares jump 6% to $107.53 last Friday, after the company released much anticipated results from a Phase III clinical trials of its oral multiple sclerosis drug candidate BG-12 (dimethyl fumarate) at the 5th Joint Triennial Congress of the European and Americas Committees on Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS and ACTRIMS) in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

This news, plus that on alemtuzumab which follows, is seen as evidence that Novartis, which was the first to launch an oral MS drug with its Gilenya (fingolimod), will soon get competition in a market that is forecast to reach $11.5 billion by 2015. Also, last week France’s Sanofi presented strong data at the ECTRIMS and ACTRIMS meeting on its candidate Aubagio (teriflunomide), as well as saying its filing with the US Food and Drug Administration had been accepted (The Pharma Letter October 21).

Biogen Idec announced positive data from the Phase III DEFINE clinical trial of oral BG-12 in people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). Results showed that 240mg of BG-12, administered either twice a day (BID) or three times a day (TID), significantly reduced the proportion of patients who relapsed by 49% and 50%, respectively, at two years compared with placebo.