Quoted from http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a9AzXW.ZQroQ
Biogen, Elan’s Drug Linked to 35 Brain-Disease Cases
By Elizabeth Lopatto
Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Biogen Idec Inc.’s multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri has been linked to four new cases of a life-threatening brain illness, a spokeswoman said.
The latest cases raise to 35 the number of patients found with progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, or PML, since Biogen and its partner, Elan Corp., were allowed to resume selling the drug, said Naomi Aoki, a spokeswoman for Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Biogen. Eight of the patients had died as of Feb. 9, Aoki said.
Biogen and Dublin-based Elan pulled Tysabri from the market in 2005 after three patients, two of whom died, developed the brain infection. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration allowed sales to resume in July 2006 after deciding benefits for slowing MS relapses outweighed the risk. There were no reported infections for about two years after the drug’s reintroduction.