Better treatment for MS patients in China

Bayer Schering Pharma has announced the upcoming launch in China of Betaferon® for the treatment of relapsing-remitting forms of multiple sclerosis (MS). Betaferon®/Betaseron® is already approved in over 100 countries worldwide. With Betaferon® and the contrast agent Gadovist® 1.0, which was also recently launched in China, Bayer now aims to provide Chinese multiple sclerosis patients with a comprehensive range of services from diagnosis to therapy. Gadovist® 1.0, used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), has been approved in China for the diagnosis of diseases affecting the central nervous system, including MS, and for blood-vessel imaging.

“Multiple sclerosis is a chronic condition that requires reliable and effective treatment. More than 20 years of clinical experience have yielded a wealth of data proving the excellent benefit-to-risk profile of Betaferon®,” said Leslie Donato, Vice President, Neurology, Bayer Schering Pharma AG. “We are delighted that we are now also able to give MS patients in China access to this medication. Gadovist® 1.0 and Betaferon® demonstrate our expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of multiple sclerosis.”

Approximately 15,000 people in China suffer from MS, which is one of the most frequently encountered neurological diseases in young adults. The most common form of the disease is relapsing-remitting MS, which is characterized by the sudden appearance of symptoms that can last for days, weeks or even months, followed by periods of partial or total remission. In many cases, the disease advances with increasing MS-induced disability and, above all, worsening symptoms between individual relapses. Brain lesions typical of MS that occur early in the course of the disease can be visualized and evaluated by MRI. Such lesions indicate whether the disease process is currently active.