Fwd: [MS_Community] Copaxone Treatment May Provide Significant Benefit for RR...

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In a message dated 12/04/2003 10:13:49 AM Eastern Standard Time, lemmoncake@... writes:

Copaxone treatment may provide significant benefit for RRMSpatients, study shows12/03/2003Relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patients treated withTeva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.'s Copaxone (glatiramer acetate)may have significantly lower relapse rates as compared with untreatedRRMS patients, a new study suggested.Futhermore, the data showed that a higher percentage of RRMS patientstreated with Copaxone were relapse-free compared with an untreated group.The trial included 134 RRMS patients who were assigned to one of fivetreatment groups that received Copaxone, Serano AG and Pfizer Inc.'sRebif (interferon beta-1a), Biogen Inc.'s Avonex (interferon beta-1a),Schering AG's Betaseron (interferon beta-1b) or no treatment.Results showed that patients administered Copaxone experienced an 81percent decrease in annual relapse rate, while a 66 percent relapserate reduction was observed among those treated with Rebif. TheBetaseron treatment group experienced a 65 percent decrease in therate and patients who received Avonex demonstrated a 49 percentrelapse rate reduction.Additionally, the data found that Copaxone-treated patients had asignificantly higher percentage of relapse-free patients than patientsin the non-treatment group.Among patients in the Copaxone treatment arm, 83 percent wererelapse-free. The proportion of relapse-free patients was 65 percentamong those who received Avonex, 60 percent among patients in theRebif treatment arm, 60 percent among Betaseron-treated patients and37 percent among patients who did not receive any treatment."It is clear that immunomodulatory therapy is beneficial in thelong-term treatment of relapsing-remitting patients compared to notreatment," said lead study author Dr. Carra.The findings appear in the November issue of the European Journal ofNeurology.COPAXONE® (glatiramer acetate injection) Product Information© 2003, Teva Neuroscience, Inc.Powered by SoftWatch Relationship Server™Contact Us Technical FAQsCOPAXONE® is a registered trademark of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.Shared Solutions®, MS University™, Shared Perspectives® and MSWatch®are trademarks of Teva Neuroscience, Inc.