Elan has announced that its third-quarter loss has narrowed after a boost from sales of its Tysabri treatment for multiple sclerosis.
The net loss was $87.4 million (€61.3 million), or 19 cents a share for the three months ended September 30th, compared with a loss of $117 million (€82.1 million), or 27 cents, a year earlier, Dublin-based Elan said today.
About 17,000 patients have been treated with Tysabri since the medicine returned to the market in July 2006, a 21 per cent increase since July.
Patients taking the drug, recalled for 17 months because of its link to a rare, fatal brain infection, will surge to 100,000 by the end of 2010, Biogen estimates.
Biogen Idec, the US biotechnology firm that markets Tysabri with Elan, said earlier this week that revenue from the treatment was $93 million and Biogen's share was $63 million.