Bayer will launch a 30-gauge needle for its multiple sclerosis (MS) treatment Betaferon (interferon beta-1b) in the US. This will be the thinnest needle of any injectable disease-modifying therapy for people with MS. The needle is as thin as those commonly used for insulin and paediatric injections.

"Many people with MS using an injectable MS treatment have anxiety about injecting themselves," said Hans Bishop, head of Specialty Medicine at Bayer Schering Pharma. "Betaferon is a an effective well tolerated treatment for people with relapsing forms of MS, as well as those with the earliest signs of the disease. Introducing the thinnest needle of any MS treatment also in the US is another important step in our commitment to make it easier for people with MS to start therapy and continue using it."

Patients cite a number of reasons for not starting or continuing an injectable MS medication, including issues around injections, such as injection anxiety, injection fatigue and injection site pain. Two-thirds (67 per cent) of participants in a recent North American survey of people with MS agree they would be more comfortable injecting themselves if they knew they were using the thinnest needle possible. Benefits cited by the survey participants to using a thinner needle include less pain during injection (55 per cent), less bruising (42 per cent), less pain after injection (40 per cent), and less anxiety immediately before injection (34 per cent).

The needle has already been successfully introduced in more than 17 European countries and Canada. In a study in Europe, Betaferon patients using the 30-gauge needle reported more than 50 per cent of their injections were pain-free immediately after injection. The thinnest, 30-gauge needle will be introduced in the US with an optional autoinjector called Betaject Lite. In a survey of patients who used the 30-gauge needle along with the autoinjector, 98 per cent were "satisfied" or "very satisfied" with the thinner needle and autoinjector after their first injection. These findings may be particularly important to patients who are not currently on therapy, as about half state that they would consider/reconsider taking an injectable MS drug if a thinner needle was shown to be less painful.

Betaferon (Interferon beta-1b), marketed as Betaseron in the US and Canada, was the first MS medication with proven efficacy on the underlying course of the disease. It is indicated for the treatment of relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis to reduce the frequency of clinical exacerbations.

MS is a chronic, progressive disease of the central nervous system and the likelihood of disability increases the longer someone has MS.