Global MS awareness campaign launched
pharmafile | June 1, 2010 | News story | Medical Communications | MS, Merck Serono
Merck Serono has launched a short film competition as part of a global campaign, Real MS, to raise awareness of multiple sclerosis.
Real MS: Your Story invites competition entrants to submit their idea for a short film in the form of a script concept. An international panel of experts will judge the entries, alongside an online voting system on the Real MS campaign website. The winning script will be turned into a 3-5 minute short film and distributed later in 2010.
Scripts need to emphasise that MS sufferers can live fulfilled and positive lives, and the winning entry will be turned into a three- to five-minute film later this year.
“A diagnosis of MS can be devastating at first,” said Roberto Gradnik, the company’s head of global business unit neurodegenerative diseases.
The condition affects around two million people worldwide, and is usually diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 40.
“The goal of Real MS is to change global perception of the disease and we hope that its positive message will inspire and empower the MS community to find ways to live the lives they want,” Gradnik adds.
Merck Serono has a considerable interest in this therapy area: it already markets Rebif, an injectable form of interferon beta1-a, which saw sales rise 17% in the first quarter of this year to 429 million euros.
It has also filed oral MS treatment cladribine with the FDA, although the manufacturer suffered a setback last November after receiving a ‘refuse to file’ letter.
But data from the phase III CLARITY clinical trial show MS patients taking cladribine experienced less relapse and disability progression and Merck remains confident of the prospect of bringing it to market.
The drug is thought to interfere with white blood cells, particularly lymphocytes, which are implicated in the development of MS.
For the Real MS campaign Merck will launch a website this month and the initiative is expected to run into next year.
As well as the recognition for budding movie directors, it will provide a platform for educational competitions, inspiring stories from patients and a forum for ideas on the future management of the disease.
There are several potential new MS treatments on the horizon, including Novartis/Mitsubishi Tanabe’s FTY-720.
And Abbott and Biogen Idec are about to start a phase III trial of daclizumab, a once-monthly injection for relapsing-remitting MS.
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