News Biogen’s Tysabri, Novartis’ Gilenya Being Considered For Funding In New Zealand Health System Biogen’s Tysabri, Novartis’ Gilenya Being Considered For Funding In New Zealand Health System by Patricia Silva, PhD | August 25, 2014 Share this article: Share article via email Copy article link The Pharmaceutical Management Agency (PHARMAC) is consideringĀ a funding proposal that includes five treatments for multiple sclerosis (MS), namely two key MS drugs, Ā Biogen‘s TysabriĀ andĀ Novartis‘ Gilenya, thatĀ are not currently funded. PHARMACĀ is the New Zealand Crown agency that decides, on behalf of District Health Boards, which medicines and related products areĀ subsidized, which means thatĀ natalizumab and fingolimod may start to be prescribed by the New Zealand community and public hospitals. The proposal that will go into effectĀ beginning on November 1st, 2014 include the funding ofĀ natalizumab (Tysabri), produced by Biogen, as well as fingolimod (Gilenya), which is produced by Novartis, in the New ZealandĀ community and in DHB hospitals, subject to restrictions. It also includesĀ changes to the restrictions for funded access, in both the community and DHB hospitals, for interferon beta-1-alpha (Avonex), interferon beta-1-beta (Betaferon), and glatiramer acetate (Copaxone). “About 600 people currently receive funded treatment for MS and we estimate, should this proposal be approved, around 87% of these people would be eligible to change to the newĀ treatments,” the proposal states. “The other 13% could continue receiving their existing funded treatment.Ā In addition, should this proposal be accepted, we estimate that about 400 more people withĀ MS would become eligible for funded treatments during the next five years.” [adrotate banner=”9″] Tysabri is an MS treatment specifically indicated for treating physical disability and patients who haven’t seen results with other courses of treatment. It is administrated every four weeks as an infusion and it reduces flare-ups by 67 percent, according to a two-year placebo controlled study conducted by Biogen. Tysabri also showed substantial benefits in protecting MS patients against relapses, according to another study recently published in JAMA Neurology. However, it is also known thatĀ patients who are prescribedĀ TysabriĀ have an increased risk to develop the rare, often fatal infection of the brain called progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), which is caused by a common virus that infects blood cells. Gilenya is a first-in-classĀ sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor modulator, which works by blocking lymphocyted in lymph nodes and preventing them to concur to an autoimmune reaction,Ā currently used in treating persons with severeĀ relapsing remitting MS. The substance has been proved effective in the treatment of other conditions, as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or in reducing the pain caused by chemotherapy. Print This Page About the Author Patricia Silva, PhD PatrĆcia holds a PhD in medical microbiology and infectious diseases from the Leiden University Medical Center, Netherlands, and completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Lisbon, Portugal. Her work in academia was mainly focused on molecular biology and the genetic traits of infectious agents such as viruses and parasites. PatrĆcia earned several travel awards to present her work at international scientific meetings. She is a published author of several peer-reviewed science articles. Tags Biogen Idec, Gilenya, Novartis, Tysabri
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