The National Multiple Sclerosis Society has just committed up to $18.4 million to support 52 new MS research projects and training fellowships as part of its comprehensive strategy to stop MS in its tracks, restore function that has been lost, and end the disease forever. This financial commitment is the latest in the Society’s relentless research effort to move closer to a world free of MS.

The National MS Society’s longstanding investments in basic and translational research has resulted in new treatments and better methods of diagnosis and disease management for people with MS, and the Society continues to pursue all promising paths that lead to solutions for everyone affected by MS. 

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.

The new projects (.pdf) include:

• explorations of what causes people with MS to experience pain;


• a DNA bank to aid researchers investigating the genes that make people susceptible to MS;


• new approaches to promoting nervous system repair; and


• fellowships to train promising young doctors and scientists in MS research and clinical care.

These new projects add substantially to the research goals outlined in the Society’s Strategic Response to MS http://nationalmssociety.org/about-the-society/our-strategic-response/index.aspx.

There are FDA-approved therapies (http://nationalmssociety.org/about-multiple-sclerosis/what-we-know-about-ms/treatments/index.aspx) that can impact the underlying disease course in people with the more common forms of MS.  However, none of these can stop progression or reverse the damage to restore function. The National MS Society-funded research helped lead to the development of many of these therapies, and continues to be a driving force of MS research.

Read more about newly funded research projects (.pdf)

Read about the NOW Campaign to raise money for MS research

http://www.nationalmssociety.org/research/research-news/news-detail/index.aspx?nid=6584