Monday, September 23, 2013

BIOGEN HAS 3 NEW MS TREATMENTS THEY ARE WORKING ON THAT ARE BEING PRESENTED AT THE WORLDWIDE MEETING OF NEUROLOGISTS: ECTRIMS


Data at The ECTRIMS Meetings will be presented from across Biogen Idec’s portfolio, including:

Investigational medicines:

PLEGRIDY(pegylated interferon beta-1a): a potential new molecular entity for relapsing forms of MS in which interferon beta-1a is pegylated to extend its half-life and prolong its exposure in the body. Pegylation offers a less-frequent dosing schedule.

DACLIZUMAB HIGH-YIELD PROCESS (DAC HYP): is being developed as a once-monthly subcutaneous injection. DAC HYP is believed to target the activated immune cells that can play a key role in MS without causing general immune cell depletion. DAC HYP is being developed under a collaboration agreement with AbbVie, Inc.

Anti-LINGO-1 (BIIB033): is the first candidate being investigated for its potential to repair neurons damaged by MS.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

delete With the Tecfidera $10 Co-pay Program,* you pay just $10 a month for your treatment.


Tecifera offers comprehensive insurance counseling—with help sorting through benefits, including:

Medicare—along with financial assistance programs, including a $10 Co-pay Program.* We can even provide Tecfidera for free to those who are truly in need.

With the Tecfidera $10 Co-pay Program,* you pay just $10 a month for your treatment. This program includes:

No income requirements* – most people regardless of income can enroll in the $10 Co-pay Program
No time limit – you can re-enroll every year for as long as you take Tecfidera
No waiting – your specialty pharmacy can enroll you immediately into the program so that you can get Tecfidera right away
*Co-pay details and eligibility include:

Please note that for the $10 Co-pay Program, cost per month assumes one box of Tecfidera, containing 30 days of doses. You are eligible to enroll in the $10 Co-pay Program for as long as you are treated with Tecfidera.

Federal and state laws may prevent eligibility. People covered by Medicare, Medicaid, the VA/DoD, or any other federal plans are not be eligible to enroll. In addition, some insurance providers may prevent eligibility or restrict eligibility to people with demonstrated financial need. If you are not eligible or not sure of your eligibility, please call MS ActiveSource. There are charitable programs and even a free drug program sponsored by Biogen Idec that may be able to help you with the cost.

FREE: PILL ORGANIZER



You don't have to take Tecfidera with food, but, if you do, it may help with flushing. Be sure not to crush, chew, or sprinkle Tecfidera on food. Swallow it whole and intact. If you have a bottle of Tecfidera that’s been open for more than 90 days, just throw it away.

It's important to protect Tecfidera from light. One way to do this is by storing the capsules in their original bottle. You can also keep a weekly supply of Tecfidera in the pill organizer that you’ll receive when you start Tecfidera. With individual wells for each capsule, the pill organizer can help you remember to take your Tecfidera twice a day.



Benefits of Tecfidera..(1) Reduced relapses (2)


Benefits of Tecfidera

Tecfidera was studied in 2 clinical trials involving more than 2,600 people for 2 years each. In these studies, Tecfidera was compared against a placebo, or "fake" pill. This is a standard way to measure if a drug works as expected. Based on its clinical trials, Tecfidera was approved by the FDA to treat people with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis. Find out more about trial results by clicking the green boxes below.

Reduced relapses
Call them relapses, flare-ups, or exacerbations. They're disruptive, and the goal is to reduce them. No MS medication completely gets rid of them, but people taking Tecfidera in a 2-year study had fewer relapses compared to placebo.
  • Fewer people taking Tecfidera had relapses
  • Relapse reductions over 2 years: percentage of people
  • 27% of people taking Tecfidera experienced relapse compared with 46% of people taking placebo, making them 49% less likely to experience a relapse.
  • This means that less than 3 out of 10 people taking Tecfidera experienced a relapse
Delayed physical disability progression
People with MS tell us how important it is for them to stay as active and mobile as they possibly can. That's why we studied physical ability in people over a 2-year period. What we learned is that Tecfidera helped delay physical disability progression in people with relapsing MS
  • 38% fewer people had disability progression compared to those taking placebo over 2 years
Slowed the development of brain lesions
You don't necessarily feel brain lesions, but the fact they show up on an MRI scan means your MS has been active. We measured 3 different types of brain lesions, and for all 3 types, people taking Tecfidera had fewer lesions when compared to placebo over the 2-year study.

How does Tecfidera work?

There's so much to know about how drugs work, and scientists are learning more every day. It's not known how Tecfidera works in the body to fight relapsing MS, but here is what researchers discovered about the active ingredient in Tecfidera and what it does inside our cells.

Our bodies contain certain toxins that can cause stress on our cells. This particular type of stress is called oxidative stress and, when it builds up, it can lead to cell damage and even destroy healthy cells in different places in our bodies, such as the central nervous system (CNS). One way our bodies respond to oxidative stress is through the Nrf2 pathway. Researchers have learned that the active ingredient of Tecfidera, dimethyl fumarate, activates this pathway in our cells.

It's important to learn as much as possible about how drugs might work in the body. It can get pretty technical, and a lot is still unknown, but you can ask your doctor to help you understand. Exploring options and talking to your doctor is a positive step toward managing your relapsing MS.