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

To: fred hayes who wrote (6269)	1/18/2005 11:32:46 PM
From: Biomaven	Respond to of 10345

FWIW: UPDATE 1-Teva shares fall on MS drug and cancer paper Tue Jan 18, 2005 12:22 PM ET (Adds company, analyst comments, updates stock) CHICAGO, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Shares of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (TEVA.O: Quote, Profile, Research) (TEVA.TA: Quote, Profile, Research) fell 3 percent on Tuesday, and analysts cited worries about a small study suggesting a link between Teva's multiple sclerosis drug, Copaxone, and breast cancer. A paper submitted for publication in the journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment says that patients taking Copaxone had 3.1 times greater risk of developing breast cancer. But the results were not conclusive, according to the analysts, because they did not meet "statistical significance," meaning there is a significant probability the results were due to chance. The Israel-based drugmaker said among 60,000 women with MS who have taken the drug since 1996, the rate of breast cancer is actually diminished compared with the general population. Teva officials also pointed out shortcomings to the study -- including its small size and lack of peer review. "This is much ado about nothing," a Teva spokesman said. The paper looked at 892 female patients with MS, 15 of whom had breast cancer. Eleven of the women had the disease before starting the trial and four developed it after the trial began. It is not clear, however, how many of the four patients were on Copaxone or another drug, the company said. "The paper did not reveal this," the Teva spokesman said. Analysts are already fretting as the MS drug market becomes more crowded with the introduction of the newest MS drug, Tysabri, marketed by Elan Corp. (ELN.I: Quote, Profile, Research) and Biogen Idec Inc. (BIIB.O: Quote, Profile, Research) , to treat the autoimmune disease that damages nerves in the brain, spinal cord and eyes. "This study and the buzz it might create is certainly not what Teva needed, with the looming Tysabri launch on the horizon," David Maris, a Banc of America Securities analyst, told investors in a research note. Teva's shares fell 86 cents to $27.67 on the Nasdaq on Tuesday afternoon.