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Novartis Study To Compare New MS Pill To Biogen's Avonex
Wednesday September 13rd, 2006 / 23h15


By Anita Greil
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
ZURICH -(Dow Jones)- Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG (NVS) said Wednesday it has initiated a late stage study that is comparing its experimental Multiple Sclerosis pill against Biogen Idec Inc.'s (BIIB) Avonex, an older treatment that needs to be injected.
Novartis, based in Basel, said that more than 1,000 patients will be participating in the trial. They will be divided into equal numbers and will be randomly assigned to receive either the Novartis pill, dubbed FTY720, at a dose of 1.25 milligrams or 0.5 milligram of Avonex.