Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Biotech / Medical : Biogen -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Beltropolis Boy who wrote (1183)	11/24/1999 4:09:00 PM
From: William Partmann	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1686

MS drug slows brain-tissue loss MARLENE HABIB, The Canadian Press A new tool to analyse the brain is diagnosing multiple sclerosis before the patients exhibit symptoms. The technique, called brain parenchymal fraction, involves magnetic resonance imaging equipment, says a study by researchers in Buffalo, N.Y. The study, reported in the journal Neurology, also found the that the drug Avonex - which works on the immune system to help preserve brain tissue - can significantly slow the rate of brain-tissue loss. Dr. Lawrence Jacobs, head of neurology at Buffalo General Hospital, said his research has found many patients with multiple sclerosis lose brain volume in the early stages of the neurological disease. "We now know that long before the symptoms and signs of MS appear, the disease is active in the brain, and it will continue during the early stages of diagnosis unless adequately treated, as soon as possible, to slow the progression of brain shrinkage and to preserve brain substance," said Jacobs. Brain "shrinkage" is irreversible, he said, adding that MS attacks cause symptoms such as memory loss, slurred speech and loss of muscle control. The study provides more evidence that early treatment is effective, said Dr. William McIlroy of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada. Lucia Byrns, a former nurse in Wainfleet, Ont., near Welland in southern Ontario, had been travelling to Buffalo's Baird Multiple Sclerosis Research Center for neurological assessments. The centre was also involved in Jacobs' study. Now 50, Byrns was diagnosed with MS in 1974, and her 29-year-old daughter LeAnn was told she had the disease nine years ago. The two are among 50,000 Canadians with MS, which strikes twice as many women as men. They now travel for checkups to a special clinic at McMaster University in Hamilton, and inject themselves weekly with Avonex, resulting in fewer attacks a year. "If I was having an attack, I might lose the feeling in both my legs," said Lucia Byrns. "Now the drugs encourage the body to have less attacks, shorten the duration of attacks and have less damage." The Buffalo study was funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the Poiker Foundation and Avonex-maker Biogen Inc (NasdaqNM:BGEN - news). © The Canadian Press, 1999