Dr. Omar Khan, the researcher at Wayne State University, Detroit, who issued a report last week that the multiple sclerosis drug Avonex lagged behind its competitors, Copaxone and Betaseron, reportedly received funding from the manufacturer and marketer of Copaxone.

Teva Marion Partnership, a joint venture of Jerusalem-based Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd. and Hoechst AG, of Frankfurt, Germany, said it gave Khan an unrestricted educational grant to publicize the findings. But Khan has said the study was independent.

Khan reported findings that Biogen Inc.'s Avonex did not reduce relapses in patients as effectively as Teva's Copaxone and Chiron Corp.'s Betaseron. (See BioWorld Today, Oct. 15, 1999, p. 2.) Biogen has criticized the study as being poorly constructed because it was not controlled or blinded.