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This excerpt taken from the ELN 20-F filed Feb 26, 2009. Advancing
Neuroscience, Growing the Business
In 2008, we continued to fulfill our mission of making
significant scientific advancements in neuroscience while
continuing overall growth of the business.
Our operations are organized into two business units:
Biopharmaceuticals, which engages in research, development and
commercial activities primarily in neuroscience, autoimmune and
severe chronic pain, and Elan Drug Technologies (EDT), which
focuses on the specialty pharmaceutical industry, including
specialized drug delivery and manufacturing.
We made significant research and development progress,
particularly in the clinical advancement of our Alzheimer’s
disease programs. Our Alzheimer’s platform is marked by
three distinct approaches to modify the “beta amyloid
cascade,” a complex process thought to underlie
Alzheimer’s disease.
Table of Contents
Our deep scientific expertise is also evident in our work in
Parkinson’s disease, where our scientists continue to build
on their work based on modified forms of alpha-synuclein found
in human Parkinson’s disease brain tissue, and with parkin,
a brain protein linked to the disease.
We continued to grow the value of Tysabri as an important
therapeutic approach to multiple indications. Tysabri is
an approved therapy for relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis
(MS) in the United States and for relapsing-remitting MS in the
European Union. Tysabri sales grew significantly in 2008,
reflecting strong patient demand across global markets.
Tysabri is also approved in the United States for
inducing and maintaining clinical response and remission in
adult patients with moderately to severely active Crohn’s
disease (CD), with evidence of inflammation, who have had an
inadequate response to, or are unable to tolerate, conventional
CD therapies and inhibitors of tumor necrosis factor alpha
(TNF-alpha).
The medical and scientific opportunity represented by
Elan’s biopharmaceutical pipeline remains significant.
Our EDT business is the oldest, independent drug delivery firm
in the industry. As a leader in the business, we have
contributed to over $15 billion of in-market sales for our
clients over our history. An established, profitable specialty
pharmaceutical business unit of Elan, EDT has been applying its
skills and knowledge to enhance the performance of dozens of
drugs that have subsequently been marketed worldwide. Today,
products enabled by EDT technologies are used by millions of
patients each day.
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