Slowing Physical Disability Progression

AVONEX helps you stay active longer

Whether you like to hike, swim, or bake, when you're first diagnosed with relapsing multiple sclerosis (MS), you may be worried about your ability to continue doing the things you love in the future.

Over the course of 20 years, no MS treatment has been shown to delay physical disability progression more than AVONEX in comparative clinical trials.

In a two-year clinical study, it took significantly longer for people taking AVONEX to have increased physical disability, compared with people who weren't treating their MS. In fact, people taking AVONEX were 37% less likely to have increased physical disability after two years, compared with people who weren't taking an MS therapy. This means that people who weren't taking an MS therapy were nearly 60% more likely to have increased physical disability after two years.

In a ten-year follow-up of a separate study, eight out of ten people taking AVONEX were still active in their daily lives, with EDSS^a scores below 3.0.^b

Safety and efficacy of treatment with AVONEX beyond three years is not known.

Talk with your doctor to find out if AVONEX is right for you.

Ryan and Jane are paid spokespersons for Biogen Idec, and these are their stories. Individual results may vary.

People taking AVONEX maintained cognitive ability

MS is more than just physical symptoms: it can also cause cognitive problems, including trouble with memory and concentration. In the same ten-year study, people taking AVONEX had stable cognitive scores from year five to year ten, based on a test called the PASAT.^c The PASAT measures:

• Memory
• Attention
• Mental processing speed

These are skills that you use every day, whether you're driving a car, holding a meeting at work, or even just working on a puzzle.

Two out of three people taking AVONEX did not have any cognitive decline from MS over the same five-year period, as measured by the PASAT.

It is unknown whether the effects on cognition seen in this study were caused by AVONEX.

1. Expanded Disability Status Scale.
2. In people who had experienced a first flare-up and had lesions consistent with MS on their MRIs.
3. Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test.