Novartis drug investigated after 11 deaths

A European agency is investigating a multiple sclerosis drug made by industry giant Novartis to determine whether the medicine played any role in the deaths at least 11 patients.

The drug, Gilenya, was licensed last year in the European Union to treat a severe type of multiple sclerosis. It can cause a slow heart rate when first taken and doctors closely monitor patients after the first dose.

The European Medicines Agency, which is now investigating the drug, said it isn't clear if it caused the deaths. One of the fatalities occurred in the United States, where a patient died within 24 hours of taking the first dose.

The European agency said it didn't know where the other 10 deaths occurred, but that they were reported to its drug database, which monitors side effects from medicines in the European Union.

Novartis said not all the deaths were heart related.

A spokeswoman at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it also is conducting a data analysis but has not made any definitive conclusions and does not know when its review will be complete.

More than 30,000 patients have taken Gilenya worldwide.

The European Medicines Agency advised doctors to increase their monitoring of patients after the first dose of the medicine. The agency said the risk of a slow heart rate after the first dose of Gilenya was known when it was approved.

This new guidance applies only to patients taking their first dose, Novartis said in a statement.

The EU drug regulator hopes to finish its review of the drug by March.