Driving a Cure for MS Posted on June 27, 2008 Post a comment

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease of the central nervous system that stops people from moving. There are more than 450,000 people in the U.S. and two million people worldwide who suffer from MS, yet there is no cure and only a handful of partially effective drug treatments.

Like other relatively low population diseases, business realities keep pharmas from placing resources against finding a cure. As a result, the knowledge that is being accumulated about MS in the lab is not making its way to the market.

In an effort to speed treatments to people with MS, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society launched an innovative and very exciting program last year called Fast Forward (we were privileged to help the NMSS define the positioning and messaging for this program). The goal of Fast Forward is to help jump-start the development of drugs for MS by bringing together those uncovering new insights into the disease with those developing drug therapies. This is done by either creating connections or by directly funding the most promising therapies.

Of course, the NMSS will still be a major driving force in MS research, but this new program gives donors who would like to support more proactive measures a new option. The interest in the program both by the donor community and the pharmaceutical industry has been very strong. More importantly, it takes the MS Society a step closer to realizing their vision of “a world free of MS.”