I trust most of you are aware tomorrow is:
including this event:
On this occasion we decided to announce a project we've been pondering over for some time.
It is:
Don't worry the logo will look much nicer once our design department are ready:-)
What is the objective of BartsMS Charity?
To enable Barts-MS to undertake hard-to-fund, or to prime important, MS research projects.
Our first key objective is to enable every person with MS access to
effective disease modifying therapies (DMT), regardless of their disability and their economic background.
Evidence suggests that DMT:
(i) Should be started as early as possible, irrespective of the economic setting within which people live
(ii) Is effective in many pwMS even at a more advanced stage of their disease
Many pwMS now have access to effective DMT. However, two important groups are excluded:
(i) pwMS with a high
level of disability, for example, wheelchair users
(ii)
pwMS at any stage
of their disease who are typically living in lower and middle income countries (LMIC) or have poor access to DMT because they are not covered by healthcare insurance.
Do we need yet another MS charity?
Both
in resource-restricted health care settings, and from a certain level of
disability onwards, where cost-effectiveness guidelines lead to limited access,
the cost of DMT represents a significant hurdle for access.
The
use of ‘off-label’ drugs has the potential to enable significant change to the
problem of access, however doctors are often either not aware of these drugs or
they may be concerned about their use in strongly guideline-driven healthcare
environments.
Some
doctors are also concerned about the evidence base and their personal risk of
litigation in case of adverse events.
Funds
to support proof-of-concept studies as well as larger clinical trials are limited as off-label DMT candidates are generic drugs, i.e. off-patent, with
only minor - if any - incentives for drug companies to engage.
Several MS charities provide a different proposition, however do not specifically address the need to focus on the clinical advancement and availability of DMT for all pwMS.
What will BartsMS Charity do?
The Charity intends to raise awareness of the utility of currently available DMT at
any disease stage and support the development of new DMT and to help generate the required evidence to support the use of these DMT.
The
Charity will therefore raise funds to:
(i) Perform enabling
work and support pilot studies into promising new DMT and
(ii)
Get the word out to
patients and practitioners alike that we urgently need both investment in new
treatments and a decisive strategy to make DMT more widely available.
BartsMS Charity will tie together and support several themes many of you are familiar with, including our initiatives #ThinkHand, #OffLabel prescribing, #ClinicSpeak, the #CharcotProject and #CHARIOT-MS.
Please note BartsMS Charity is not a stand alone charity, but a dedicated fund held by Queen Mary University of London, which has charitable status. We chose this solution - rather than starting a charity from scratch - to keep any associated administrative cost at a minimum. Indeed, they are currently zero, i.e. all donations to BartsMS will go 100% towards the objectives outlined above. Just go to the drop down menu on this page and chose destination "01. Barts MS". Any amount will help!
Thanks for your support!