Novartis to present data on new MS drug at annual neurology conference

Novartis will be presenting the findings of research relating to its multiple sclerosis (MS) drug Gilenya at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Washington.

The pharmaceutical firm has evidence that the treatment, which contains fingolimod, can be beneficial to patients who have previously suffered from highly-active relapsing-remitting MS.

Novartis has conducted phase II and phase III trials over the past two years to test the drug's efficiency in medicating the disease, finding that it was particularly effective in treating relapses, as well as MRI lesions.

Global head of development at Novartis Vasant Narasimham commented: "This Gilenya data and new methods of assessing the impact of MS have the potential to give physicians a more comprehensive picture of an individual's disease and allow patients to better understand their MS."

To date, Gilenya has amassed sales of $666 million (455 million pounds) for Novartis, contributing significantly to the company's strong financial results in the fourth quarter of 2014.