Biogen Idec is committed to developing innovative treatments for patients with high unmet medical needs. For 30 years, we have been focused on transforming scientific discoveries into advances in human healthcare through the discovery, development and commercialization of our own pioneering products and through strategic alliances.
A leader in multiple sclerosis, we also offer the world’s most prescribed therapy for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and patients in more than 90 countries benefit from our products.
AVONEX® (Interferon beta-1a) is the most prescribed treatment for relapsing forms of MS worldwide, with more than 135,000 patients on therapy. It is used worldwide as a treatment for relapsing forms of MS to slow the progression of disability and reduce relapses. AVONEX is also approved for patients who have their first clinical MS attack and have a brain MRI scan consistent with MS.
The most common side effects associated with AVONEX multiple sclerosis treatment are flu-like symptoms, including myalgia, fever, fatigue, headache, chills, nausea, vomiting, pain and asthenia.
AVONEX should be used with caution in patients with depression or other mood disorders and in patients with seizure disorders. AVONEX should not be used by pregnant women. Patients with cardiac disease should be closely monitored. Patients should also be monitored for signs of hepatic injury. Rare cases of anaphylaxis have been reported.
AVONEX Full Prescribing Information
AVONEX Medication Guide
TYSABRI® (natalizumab) is a treatment approved for relapsing forms of MS in the United States and relapsing-remitting MS in the European Union. According to data that have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine, after two years, TYSABRI treatment led to a 68% relative reduction (p<0.001) in the annualized relapse rate compared to placebo and reduced the relative risk of disability progression by 42-54% (p<0.001).
TYSABRI was recently approved to induce and maintain clinical response and remission in adult patients with moderately to severely active Crohn’s disease (CD) with evidence of inflammation who have had an inadequate response to, or are unable to tolerate, conventional CD therapies and inhibitors of TNF-alpha.
TYSABRI increases the risk of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), an opportunistic viral infection of the brain that usually leads to death or severe disability. Other serious adverse events that have occurred in TYSABRI-treated patients included hypersensitivity reactions (e.g., anaphylaxis) and infections. Serious opportunistic and other atypical infections have been observed in TYSABRI-treated patients, some of whom were receiving concurrent immunosuppressants. Herpes infections were slightly more common in patients treated with TYSABRI. In MS and CD clinical trials, the incidence and rate of other serious adverse events, including serious infections, were similar in patients receiving TYSABRI and those receiving placebo. Common adverse events reported in TYSABRI-treated MS patients include headache, fatigue, infusion reactions, urinary tract infections, joint and limb pain, and rash. Other common adverse events reported in TYSABRI-treated CD patients include respiratory tract infections and nausea. Clinically significant liver injury has been reported in patients treated with TYSABRI in the post-marketing setting.
TYSABRI Full Prescribing Information
TYSABRI Medication Guide
RITUXAN® (rituximab) is approved for treatment of relapsed or refractory, low-grade or follicular, CD20-positive, B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) as a single agent; for previously untreated diffuse large B-cell, CD20-positive, NHL in combination with CHOP (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisone) or other anthracycline-based chemotherapy regimens; for previously untreated follicular, CD20-positive, B-cell NHL in combination with CVP (cyclophosphamide, vincristine and prednisolone) chemotherapy; and for the treatment of non-progressing (including stable disease), low-grade, CD20-positive, B-cell NHL as a single agent, after first-line CVP chemotherapy.
RITUXAN is also approved for use in combination with methotrexate (MTX) for reducing signs and symptoms and to slow the progression of structural damage in adult patients with moderately- to severely-active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who have had an inadequate response to one or more tumor necrosis factor (TNF) antagonist therapies.
RITUXAN has been associated with fatal infusion reactions, tumor lysis syndrome, severe mucocutaneous reactions, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), hepatitis B reactivation with related fulminant hepatitis and other serious viral infections, cardiovascular events, renal toxicity and bowel obstruction and perforation.
The most common adverse events in previous trials of RITUXAN in RA were infusion-related symptoms, affecting 32% of patients receiving RITUXAN vs. 23% receiving placebo during the first infusion. The incidence of infusion reactions decreased with each subsequent infusion. The most common reactions included fever, chills/rigor, nausea, asthenia and headache. These reactions generally have resolved with slowing or interruption of the infusion and with supportive care.
RITUXAN Full Prescribing Information
RITUXAN Medication Guide