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RESEARCH
Society Invests $7 Million in Research to Speed Repair of the Nervous System The National MS Society recently committed $7 million to support 15 new research projects focusing on innovative approaches to repair nerve-insulating myelin, which is destroyed by the MS disease process. Momentum in this challenging field has been building through the National MS Society’s 2005 global initiative and the Society’s Promise: 2010 campaign, when the Society funded four collaborative teams focusing on nervous system protection and repair. Achieving success would provide life-changing advances for people with MS and could stop disease progression and restore neurological function for people with all types of MS. “The idea of rebuilding the nervous system and protecting it from ongoing MS damage was just a dream a few years ago,” noted Dr.
13 Timothy Coetzee, chief advocacy, services and research officer of the National MS Society. “Now, because of efforts by the research community as well as focused investments by the Society, we can see a future where people with MS will have treatments that could restore what’s been lost,” he added.
“The idea of rebuilding the nervous system and protecting it from ongoing MS damage was just a dream a few years ago.” These new investments — in both commercial therapeutics and academic research — expand the Society’s comprehensive portfolio to 88 research projects focusing on repairing the nervous system in people with MS, totaling $37.8 million. They will also contribute to the National MS Society’s No Opportunity Wasted (NOW) Campaign aimed toward research to stop the disease in its tracks, restore function and ultimately, end MS forever. MS research is moving forward faster than ever before. To learn more about these 15 new projects and other advances in MS research, visit nationalmssociety.org/research. n