....treatment with AVONEX (Interferon beta-1a) promoted a statistically significant recovery of T1-black hole lesion volume by almost 24%....

Initial findings presented today at the 22nd Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) in Madrid, Spain showed that treatment with AVONEX (Interferon beta-1a) promoted a statistically significant recovery of T1-black hole lesion volume by almost 24% (p<0.05)>

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of AVONEX on global and focal disease as measured by multiple non-conventional and conventional MRI indices in a large sample of MS patients with either relapsing-remitting (RR) or secondary-progressive MS over 1 year. This study was an open label, single-blind, post-marketing, MRI observational study. 147 patients (131 with RRMS) were included with a mean pre-study disease duration of 11.1 years and followed for an average of 13.7 months. Patients received clinical and MRI examination at baseline and at the end of follow-up.

"This study represents one of the largest non-conventional MRI studies ever performed in patients with MS," said Dr. Robert Zivadinov, Associate Professor of Neurology and Director of the Buffalo Neuroimaging and Analysis Center, part of the Jacobs Neurological Institute, SUNY Buffalo, NY. He emphasized, "that the positive effect of AVONEX was particularly evident in patients with RRMS." This cohort represents a well-defined group of patients being on AVONEX monotherapy for a mean of 4.0 years before study entry. This study was funded by a grant from Biogen Idec.....