Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Extavia Approved in European Union for Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis, First in Planned Portfolio of Therapies from Novartis

May 26, 2008 - The European Commission has approved Extavia® (interferon beta-1b) for the treatment of early and relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS) - the first in a new portfolio of medicines from Novartis that is planned to include both established treatments and innovative therapies for patients with MS.

Extavia is the Novartis branded version of interferon beta-1b, a first-line disease-modifying therapy injected every other day for the treatment of MS. Interferon beta-1b has been available globally for more than 13 years and is supported by more than 700,000 patient-years of experience[1].

Formerly known as NVF233, Extavia is the same medicine as Betaferon®/Betaseron®, which is marketed by Bayer-Schering and was the first beta interferon treatment for MS. Novartis gained rights to its own branded version of this medicine in agreements with Bayer-Schering related to the acquisition of Chiron.

The details can be read here.

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