Multiple Sclerosis Health Center

New Details on Suspension of MS Drug Tysabri

Doctors' Advice for Patients

Tysabri is given by injection every four weeks. That would mean that patients who took the drug only while it was on the market got a maximum of one to three doses, Koralnik tells WebMD.

"We would think they are not at any risk of developing PML now if they haven't manifested any overt neurological disease different from their baseline," he says.

Patients should talk to the doctors and have their blood screened, says Annette Langer-Gould, MD, of Stanford University medical school's neurology department. Langer-Gould, who also serves in Stanford's department of health research and policy, contributed to a journal report on one of the confirmed PML cases.

'Very Rare' Disease

PML is "very rare," even in people with weakened immune systems, says Langer-Gould.

People with MS are not believed to be at higher risk for PML, and the disease is not thought to be contagious, says the FDA's web site.

The patient who survived the confirmed case of PML temporarily had a worsening of his symptoms about three months after stopping Tysabri. What may have happened, says Koralnik, is that the patient's white blood cells were able to get back into the brain at that point to fight the virus.

"It's clear that Tysabri and other medications of this class are extremely promising to treat a variety of crippling conditions for which there is no cure," says Koralnik. "But we have to learn, move forward, and understand better ... the exact mechanisms to the reactivation of this virus, how to prevent it in the future, and how to monitor for such reactivation."