The National Multiple Sclerosis Society is partnering with the Accelerated Cure Project's (ACP) Multiple Sclerosis Discovery Forum (MSDF) – an interactive online community and information portal for researchers and clinicians – to develop resources and content focusing on progressive MS. Promoting engagement by the research community on issues in progressive MS is one aspect of a multifaceted approach to increasing progress in this underexplored area of research.
There has been substantial progress and FDA-approved therapies that can impact the underlying disease course in people with the more common, relapsing, forms of MS. However, none of these can stop progression or reverse the damage to restore function, which are critical for everyone with MS including those with progressive forms.
The Society is awarding MSDF a two-year, $150,000 grant that will enable it to focus additional coverage and resources on progressive forms of MS, an area that is receiving strategic focus by the National MS Society and the Progressive MS Alliance – global organizations working together to connect resources and experts around the world to find the answers and develop the solutions to end progressive MS.
"We are accelerating the knowledge and collaboration needed to identify solutions for people affected by progressive MS," says Timothy Coetzee, PhD, Chief Advocacy, Services & Research Officer. "Our partnership with MSDF will connect researchers working to stop MS progression to each other and to us."
MSDF – a project of ACP, which creates the site's content and directs its outreach activities – was established in 2012 with an unrestricted grant from founding donor EMD Serono. It provides a free, neutral venue where members of the MS research community can learn about cutting-edge findings, participate in discussions, and access professional and research resources.
"We are delighted to receive this support for MSDF from the National MS Society," said Robert McBurney, Chief Executive Officer of ACP. "Beyond providing the MS Discovery Forum with resources to increase its reporting to the research community on progressive MS, this grant brings ACP and the National MS Society closer together in a complementary effort to highlight this area of unmet medical need and to stimulate research efforts to answer important questions about progressive MS."
About the National Multiple Sclerosis Society
The Society mobilizes people and resources to drive research for a cure and to address the challenges of everyone affected by MS. To fulfill this mission, the Society funds cutting-edge research, drives change through advocacy, facilitates professional education, collaborates with MS organizations around the world, and provides programs and services designed to help people with MS and their families move their lives forward. In 2013 alone, through its home office and 50-state network of chapters, the Society invested $48.3 million to support 480 new and ongoing research projects around the world while providing services to more than one million people impacted by MS. The Society is dedicated to achieving a world free of MS. Join the movement at http://www.nationalMSsociety.org.
About the Accelerated Cure Project for MS (ACP)
ACP is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to accelerate research efforts to improve the quality of life for people with (MS), to cure the disease and, ultimately, to prevent it. ACP believes that research is the only way to greatly improve the outlook for people with MS. The organization promotes scientific collaboration and accelerates research by rapidly and cost-effectively providing researchers with data and biospecimens they need to explore novel research ideas that can lead to better care for people with MS. Its resources have supported 71 research studies worldwide that have generated more than 270 million returned data points for collaborative data mining and disease modeling. To learn more about the focus, activities and impact of ACP, please visit http://www.acceleratedcure.org.