Jul 21, 2009
Forty-five New Research Projects Launched Totaling $15.8 Million to Propel Multiple Sclerosis Research
The National Multiple Sclerosis Society has just committed $15.8 million to support 45 new MS research projects as part of its $40 million international investment this year alone to spur momentum in cutting-edge MS research. More than $435,000of these funds are allocated to scientists in the Iowa City area. This financial commitment is the latest in the Society’s relentless research effort to prevent, treat and cure MS.
Multiple sclerosis interrupts the flow of information within the brain and between the brain and the body. This disease of the central nervous system strikes someone new every hour and is the most common neurological disease diagnosed in young to middle-aged adults. Here in Iowa MS affects more than 4500 families. Worldwide, over 2.1 million people live with the unpredictable challenges of multiple sclerosis.
“The National MS Society’s research program constantly strives to move us closer to a world free of this disease,” says Mark Davis, Area Director of the Society’s offices in Iowa. “Our longstanding investment has paid off with new treatments and better methods of diagnosis and disease management for people with MS, and we continue to seek out the cutting edge of MS research.”
To ensure the scientific merit of each research proposal selected, the National MS Society relies on expert advisory committees that include more than 70 world-class scientists who volunteer their time to carefully evaluate hundreds of proposals every year.
Peer reviewers recently recommended grants to a scientist in the Iowa City area. He is:
Dr. Stanley Perlman, MD, PhD of University of Iowa received a grant of $435,826 to research “Pathogenesis of MHV-induced demyelination in wild type and RAG1-/- mice”. Perlman is very appreciative of the support that he receives from the Society, stating “Without the support of the National MS Society, we would not be able to pursue our investigations into the basis of MS”. Perlman’s research is directed at understanding the factors important for the initiation of MS. His research is based on the premise that the more that we know about the early stages of the disease, even before disease is clinically evident, the more likely that we will be able to make therapeutic interventions that prevent disease completely or reverse it an early stage, before disability becomes permanent. This research complements other projects in which new drugs and therapies that modify ongoing disease are developed and brought to the clinic.
There are six FDA-approved drugs that can impact the underlying disease course in people with the more common forms of MS. However, none of these drugs can stop or cure the disease. The National MS Society funded basic research that helped lead to the development of each of these drugs, and continues to be a driving force of MS research.
About Multiple Sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis, an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system, interrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body. Every hour in the United States, someone is newly diagnosed with MS. Symptoms range from reduced or lost mobility to numbness and tingling to blindness and paralysis. The progress, severity and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot yet be predicted, but advances in research and treatment are moving us closer to a world free of MS. Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, with at least two to three times more women than men being diagnosed with the disease. MS affects more than 400,000 people in the U.S., and 2.1 million worldwide.
About the U.S. National Multiple Sclerosis Society
MS stops people from moving. The National MS Society exists to make sure it doesn’t. The Society addresses the challenges of each person affected by MS by funding cutting edge research, driving change through advocacy, facilitating professional education, collaborating with MS organizations around the world, and providing programs and services designed to help people with MS and their families move their lives forward. In 2008 alone, through our national office and 50-state network of chapters, we devoted over $136 million to programs that enhanced more than one million lives. To move us closer to a world free of MS, the Society also invested nearly $50 million to support 440 research projects around the world. To learn more about multiple sclerosis and the service programs the Society offers visitwww.nationalMSsociety.org.
Studies show that early and ongoing treatment with an FDA-approved therapy can reduce future disease activity and improve quality of life for many people with multiple sclerosis. The National MS Society’s medical advisors recommend that people with MS talk with their health care professionals about using these medications and about effective strategies and treatments to manage symptoms. If you or someone you know has MS, please contact the National MS Society at www.nationalmssociety.org or 1-800-FIGHT-MS (344-4867) to learn more.
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