research to treatment

Moving from successful research to delivering improved treatments is quite a major task. In the UK we have several governing organisations that help to manage this process and provide additional funding that may be needed. This is partiuclarly true of all of the new drugs being tested for MS.

NICE is the main organisation that helps make decisions about what treatments should be changed or added. Below are two examples of how MS research provides data from evaluating new treatments, that provide further information for decision-making boards regarding funding and management of treatment.

FACETS (Fatigue: Applying Cognitive behavioural and Energy Effectiveness Techniques)

Through its funded MS Research team in Bristol, we helped the development of FACETS clinical studies with University of Bournemouth. MS Reserach now funds MS specialists to offer FACETS courses online and at the Vassall Centre in Bristol. The six-week group therapy course is specifically designed to aid ambulent people with MS to manage their energy levels and cope with their fatigue. This has resulted in a significant anonymous set of data to aid decisions around the delivery of FACETS through the NHS, due to be presented at an international conference shortly.

FES (Functional Electrical Stimultion)

MS Research were a UK lead in an EU research programme to examine and potentially improve FES devices for people with MS. NICE approved the use of FES for footdrop in 2009 but its clinical evaluation and general availability are limited in the UK. MS Research is actively supporting the publication of data available from international research the impact of footdrop and its treatment using FES with our European colleagues.