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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 1, 1993                   TAG: 9309010077
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: NEWARK, N.J.                                LENGTH: Short

MS PATIENTS ANGERED BY PLAN FOR DRUG LOTTERY

A plan to distribute limited amounts of a multiple sclerosis drug by computer lottery angered and saddened patients with heightened hopes of beating the degenerative disease.

The arrangement may leave four out of five sufferers unable to obtain treatment. Doctors and ethicists called that a reasonable compromise.

The drug, interferon beta IB, was developed by Wayne-based Berlex Laboratories Inc. and is made by Chiron Corp. of Emeryville, Calif. It will be marketed under the brand name Betaseron.

About one-third of the 300,000 MS sufferers in the United States fall into a category that would make them eligible for Betaseron, said Dr. Jeffrey Latts, Berlex vice president of clinical research and development.

The companies estimate there is enough supply this year for 12,000 to 20,000 people stricken with ambulatory-relapsing-remitting MS, Latts said.

MS patients said they were given great hope about the potential of Betaseron but were not informed about the potential shortage of the drug. - Associated Press

by CNB