Panel Supports Tysabri Return

Updated from 4:29 p.m. EST

A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel has unanimously decided to recommend that the FDA allow the multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri to return to the market.

The 12-member panel of medical experts completed a two-day meeting on Tysabri Wednesday. The drug is marketed by Biogen Idec (BIIB Quote) and Elan (ELN Quote), and it was pulled in February 2005 after being linked to a rare brain illness that can be deadly.

Panel members had to discuss what conditions should be met before Tysabri is given to individual patients and how it should be used. Committee members voted 7-to-5 to suggest doctors be permitted to prescribe Tysabri as the first treatment choice for MS patients. ...