FDA PANEL OKS DRUG FOR MS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 20, 1993                   TAG: 9303200082
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ROCKVILLE, MD.                                LENGTH: Short
FDA PANEL OKS DRUG FOR MS
The first drug designed to combat the fundamental crippling action of multiple sclerosis was endorsed Friday by an advisory committee of the Food and Drug Administration.
The committee split 7-2 on the drug, beta interferon, but members of the majority said they felt there had been enough evidence presented for the drug to be marketed as a new treatment. The FDA is not obligated to follow advisory committee recommendations but generally does.
The panel heard evidence that MS patients treated with the drug experience fewer and less severe attacks of the crippling disease that afflicts about 350,000 Americans.
Beta interferon is the first pharmaceutical designed to stop the destructive processes that cause the crippling effects. Other drugs used to treat MS relieve symptoms only.
Women are twice as likely as men to have MS, which strikes most often between the ages of 20 and 40.
Chiron Corp. and Berlex Labs have applied to the FDA to market a genetically engineered form of beta interferon called Betaseron.
FDA officials said the drug is on an accelerated track and could be on the market by this summer.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB