When
a 59-year-old woman who had used Biogen Idec's Tecfidera died in July,
the company said it was investigating but declared it was unlikely her
death was tied to its new multiple sclerosis pill. Now the company says
her doctor has made the determination the drug is not to blame. A Biogen
($BIIB) spokeswoman told The Wall Street Journal that the patient's
physician concluded her use of Tecfidera was not the reason for her
death, and the company agreed. "The case has been assessed and it was
determined that the death was unrelated to Tecfidera," the spokeswoman
told the newspaper.The patient had stopped taking Tecfidera about 2 1/2 weeks before her death because of gastrointestinal side effects. She had been using the drug for a little over 5 weeks at the time. The company had said the patient had a history of irritable bowel disease as well as recurring infections like bronchitis. At the time of her death she was suffering from a form of pneumonia that tends to afflict MS patients.
