Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

The Food and Drug Administration is updating health care professionals about a medication used to treat patients with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS) and moderately to severely active Crohn’s disease. New safety information indicates that the risk of developing a rare but life-threatening brain infection known as progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) increases with the number of infusions received of Tysabri (natalizumab). The announcement updates a September 2009 warning about PML associated with use of the Tysabri.

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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has received a third case of a serious and often fatal neurological disorder known as progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treated with the drug Rituxan (rituximab). The report has led the agency to inform rheumatological health care professionals that patients with RA who have received Rituxan are at an increased risk of PML. Physicians should consider the risks in any patient treated with Rituxan who presents new onset neurological manifestations. The FDA advises consultation with a neurologist, brain MRI, and lumbar puncture should be considered as clinically indicated.

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A medication used to treat multiple sclerosis (MS) and Crohn’s disease has been linked to a serious and usually fatal neurological disorder, according to an alert issued to neurological health care professionals and their patients by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

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