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Biotech / Medical : Elan Corporation, plc (ELN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: scaram(o)uche who wrote (4250)	3/25/2003 10:03:55 PM
From: rkrw	Respond to of 10345

ivanhoe.com Reported March 24, 2003 Protecting MS Patients NEW HAVEN, Conn. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- About 2 million Americans suffer from multiple sclerosis -- a disease that currently has no cure. Doctors are now testing a drug that will add an effective new form of therapy to what is currently available. Art Coscuna is a big football fan. Three years ago, he was forced to put his playing dreams on the shelf. "I was just walking, and all of a sudden, my right foot, and up my right side, went numb. I just stopped and said, 'This isn't right.' I turned to go back to my car and I collapsed," Coscuna tells Ivanhoe. Coscuna has MS, a disease in which the immune system attacks nerves -- affecting muscles, coordination and balance. Medications are limited in controlling the disease. Art's neurologist, Marco Rizzo, M.D., Ph.D., enrolled him in a study on an experimental drug called antegren. "The hypothesis is that this antibody keeps the immune system from entering the spinal cord and brain and wreaking destruction," says Dr. Rizzo, of Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn. On an MRI, the brain of a healthy person appears uniformly gray. The MRI of a person with MS has white spots -- lesions from inflammation and scarring that result in nerve damage. Dr. Rizzo says, "Those patients on the drug antegren had significant improvement in MRI scans compared to those patients who received placebo." That's good news for Coscuna. He says, "They said, 'It will take time. It will come back. The nerves got to find a new route to run, but it's not something that's going happen overnight.'" Antegren is part of a new class of drugs being tested for treating both multiple sclerosis and Crohn's disease -- both are diseases thought to be the result of a malfunctioning immune system. This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: ivanhoe.com. If you would like more information, please contact: Jacqueline E. Weaver Assistant Director for Science & Medicine Yale Office of Public Affairs Yale University (203) 432-8555 jacqueline.weaver@yale.edu

To: scaram(o)uche who wrote (4250)	4/1/2003 1:41:44 AM
From: scaram(o)uche	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10345

Elan Receives $89.5 Million Cash Payment from Its Investments in Xcel Tuesday April 1, 1:30 am ET DUBLIN, Ireland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 1, 2003--Elan Corporation, plc (NYSE: ELN - News; together with its affiliates "Elan") today announced that Elan has received $89.5 million in cash from its investment in Xcel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ("Xcel"). In 2001, Elan purchased three million Xcel Series A-1 preferred shares. Additionally, in 2001 and 2002, Xcel issued a total of $109.0 million of loan notes to Elan. The net carrying value of the shares and loan notes as at March 31, 2003, which had been written down in anticipation of this transaction, amounted to $91.6 million. Under the terms of the agreement, Xcel has purchased all of Elan's shareholding in Xcel and the loan notes have been retired in full at a discount. Elan expects to record a pre-tax loss of $2.1 million in the first quarter of 2003 in respect of the transaction. The proceeds from the transaction will form part of Elan's targeted proceeds from the divestment of assets as outlined in its recovery plan. To date, the total cash received by Elan through asset divestitures is in excess of $825.0 million. Elan is focused on the discovery, development, manufacturing, selling and marketing of novel therapeutic products in neurology, pain management and autoimmune diseases. Elan shares trade on the New York, London and Dublin Stock Exchanges. This news release may contain certain forward-looking statements by Elan that involve risks and uncertainties and reflect the company's judgement as of the date of this release. Actual events or results may differ from the company's expectations. For example, there can be no assurance that the funds received from this transaction will have a material contribution to Elan's efforts to, or predict or guarantee Elan's ability to, raise substantial proceeds from the divestment of assets. A further list of risks, uncertainties and other matters can be found in Elan's Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2001, and in its Reports of Foreign Issuer on Form 6-K. Elan assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contact: Elan Corporation Investors (U.S.): Jack Howarth, 212/407-5740 or 800/252-3526 Investors (Europe): Emer Reynolds, 353-1-709-4000 or 00800 28352600 Media: Sunny Uberoi, 212/994-8206 or 800/252-3526