International centre for Multiple Sclerosis research founded in Munich.
An international centre founded in Munich in February 2001 shall revolutionize Multiple Sclerosis research. In the next five years, the Multiple Sclerosis International Federation (MSIF) will provide approximately 10 million German marks of donations for this centre. The Sylvia Lawry Centre for Multiple Sclerosis Research, which is named after the founder of the MSIF, is located at the Technical University of Munich. The establishment of the new research centre within the high-tech region Munich is to bring new impulses for Multiple Sclerosis research. By using advanced information technology and innovative statistical methods, there will be no need anymore to carry out ethically difficult placebo-trials for the development of new medicinal products in the future. Data of all major clinical trials and test series are available for the new research centre. On the basis of this information, the scientists of the Sylvia Lawry Centre calculate the virtual placebo patients with the help of mathematical methods. This makes the future development of therapies for MS patients faster, less costly and more efficient.
The concept for the centre was developed by a team of staff from the Institute for Medical Statistics and Epidemiology under Prof. Dr. Albrecht Neiß and the spin-off Trium Analysis Online GmbH. The German scientists managed to hold their own in the face of strong competition from Europe and USA. The MSIF, the international umbrella organisation of 38 national MS societies, following strict methods of selection, awarded the research budget of 10 million DM to the group in Munich. Data will be collected, processed and provided for calculating the virtual placebo-group in Munich for the next 5 years. The Sylvia Lawry Centre, founded for these purposes, will serve as an international forum of research for the cause of MS. On the basis of the data, international scientists together with German experts will try to advance the determination of the course of MS and to provide new methods for the future development of medicine for MS patients.
On March 9, 2001, the international scientific oversight committee of the Sylvia Lawry Centre first met in Munich with the purpose of discussing first steps for establishing the research centre. The 12 members of the committee are among others the initiator of the MSIF project Prof. Dr. Henry McFarland of the National Institutes of Health, Prof. Dr. John Noseworthy of the Mayo Clinic and Prof. Dr. Ian McDonald of the University of London. Chairman of the committee, an internationally renowned neurologist, Prof. Dr. Ian McDonald, expressed his great pleasure about the new research project: "This centre is one of the most exciting MS research projects. Without this initiative, future trials for MS-medicine would become extremely difficult."
In the last decades important progress within MS-research could be obtained, which also led to the development of the first medicine. Therefore, the rate of repetition of the disease relapses was diminished and the progress of the disease slowed down. But this success also means that today, it would be irresponsible from the ethical point of view to continue carrying out medical trials with placebo control groups. It cannot be expected that patients will participate in the tests deliberately in which they have to renounce to being treated with already approved medicine.
The MSIF is the umbrella organisation of 38 national MS societies. It aims at supporting the work of the national societies for the integration of MS-patients within the society, advancing the international research for MS therapies and advancing the international exchange among the MS-societies.
The Institute for Medical Statistics and Epidemiology (IMSE) was founded in 1986 as a part of the Klinikum at the Technical University of Munich and it is managed by Prof. Dr. Albrecht Neiß since 1993. His task includes supporting medical research with modern statistical methods and advanced information technology. The IMSE is responsible for the statistical training of the students of medicine and advises the scientists at the Klinikum in statistical matters. Numerous international trials are conducted at the IMSE. Besides, the IMSE takes part in different projects of the DFG and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The research projects of the IMSE mainly deal with the development and testing of new statistical methods in response to clinical problems, e.g. the evaluation of new therapies or identification of prognosis factors.
The spin-off company Trium Analysis Online GmbH, founded in 1999 by Dr. Martin Daumer and Dipl.-Stat. Michael Scholz, provides innovative service and is classified as an expert for the use of internet-based technology in clinical trials and medical data-analysis. Trium combines three key competences: medicine, statistics and information technologies. The company is engaged in a number of medical research projects involving time-critical and safety-relevant data processing. As cooperation partner of the Institute for Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, Trium intensively participates in research and development. Trium is promoted by the "High-Tech-Offensive Bavaria" of the Bavarian Minister for Economic Affairs.
Source: Sylvia Lawry Centre for Multiple Sclerosis Research (SLCMSR) 3/14/01
| Close Window |