LYON, France, October 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

The MS in the 21^st Century initiative has taken a significant step forward with its publication in the Journal of Neurology, a leading journal in the area of neuroscience with a significant impact factor of 3.8.

The published article entitled Future MS care: a consensus statement of the MS in the 21^st Century Steering Group, details the work of a panel of European and Canadian neurologists and representatives from umbrella organisations, which came together to define how multiple scleroris (MS) treatment and standards of care should look in the 21^st Century. The "MS in the 21^st Century steering group" also aims to align the broader MS community to minimum standard of care as well as to challenge the current treatment paradigm.

Over the course of three meetings, the MS in the 21^st Century steering group compiled a Consensus Statement, which it hopes will act as a call to action for healthcare providers and decision makers.

The Consensus Statement communicates the group's vision ie full access to personalised treatment, with reimbursement, to achieve freedom from disease, and outlines the seven key areas of development that it believes must be addressed to realise this vision. These are personalised care, patient engagement, commitment to research, regulatory body education and reimbursement issues, new endpoints for clinical trials, more therapy options and MS centres of excellence.

Commenting on the recent article in the Journal of Neurology, the MS in the 21^st steering group chair, Professor Peter Rieckmann, said: "The publication of our approach to MS care is

a significant step forward, and will support us over the coming period when engaging with various stakeholders including regulators and patients. We recognise that a strong

collaboration across the MS community is essential to ensuring that the principles underlying the statement are accomplished."

To date endorsement for the initiative has been received from various leading experts in MS treatments and organisations including the Czech Neurological Society, MS Society, UK and MS Trust UK.

Notes to Editors

1. For further information please contact MS in the 21^st Century on 01252 739717 or at msin21stcentury@is-health.co.uk 
2. The MS in the 21^st Century Consensus Statement is provided as support material
3. The published article is available at: http://www.msworldcouncil.com and at http://www.springerlink.com/openurl.asp?genre=article&id=doi:10.1007/s00415-012-6656-6
4. The Journal of Neurology is an international peer-reviewed journal which officially represents the European Neurological Society and provides a source for publishing original communications and reviews on clinical neurology and related basic research in neuroscience. More information can be found here: http://www.springer.com/medicine/neurology/journal/415
5. The MS in the 21^st Century project was run by an independent agency, iS Health, with the support of an unrestricted educational grant from Merck Serono
6. Candidates for the steering group were identified by iS Health, because of their expertise in MS treatment, management, care and advocacy, and to ensure the group was representative of various different countries.
7. Members of the MS in the 21^st Century steering group are:

    Peter Rieckmann     Neurologist, Bamberg, Germany (Chairman)
    Alexey Boyko        Neurologist, Moscow, Russia
    Diego Centonze      Neurologist, Rome, Italy
    Alasdair Coles      Neurologist, Cambridge, UK
    Irina Elovaara      Neurologist, Tampere, Finland
    Eva Havrdová        Neurologist, Prague, Czech Republic
                        Neurologist, European Charcot Foundation, Molenhoek
    Otto Hommes         (Nijmegen area), The Netherlands
                        Internist Pharmacoepidemiologist & Pharmacoeconomist,
    Jacques LeLorier    Montreal, Canada
    Sarah A. Morrow     Neurologist, London, Canada
    Celia Oreja-Guevara Neurologist, Madrid, Spain
                        Interim Director of Policy and Research, UK MS
    Nick Rijke          Society, London , UK
    Sven Schippling     Neurologist, Zurich, Switzerland

SOURCE MS in the 21st Century