Sanofi MS drug nears green light after pass-the-parcel marathon

* European decision on Lemtrada expected this month

* 25-year journey for drug passed from company to company

* Scientists frustrated by delays, worried over pricing

By Ben Hirschler

LONDON, June 10 (Reuters) - One of the world's longest running drug development sagas may draw to a close this month as French firm Sanofi (NasdaqGM: GCVRZ - news) hopes for a European green light for its new multiple sclerosis medicine Lemtrada.

The drug's quarter-century journey from a laboratory in Cambridge (SES: E1:J91U.SI - news) , England, to a possible $1 billion-a-year seller has involved a string of pass-the-parcel deals that serve as an object lesson in complex "drug dealing" between rival companies.

While Sanofi may end up with a new product to plug a hole in its medicine cabinet, the drug's slow evolution is a mixed blessing in the eyes of some doctors worried about pricing.

But for the original scientists behind the antibody treatment, it has been a frustrating wait.

"It's been painful," said Herman Waldmann, emeritus professor of pathology at the University of Oxford, who co-invented the drug while at the University of Cambridge.

"We had to make the running to keep on convincing the pharmaceutical industry at every step that there was something interesting there."

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Sanofi MS drug nears green light after pass-the-parcel marathon