The MS Society UK raises £101.9m for MS research

The Stop MS Appeal

In 2015 the MS Society UK launched its most ambitious fundraising appeal ever, the Stop MS Appeal. It aimed to raise £100m to enable leading MS researchers to deliver vital projects, invest in new infrastructure, and develop a first of-its-kind MS clinical trials platform. Now the MS Society UK has announced that it has exceeded the £100 million target, securing £101.9 million through the landmark appeal.

As a result of the funding, promising lab discoveries are being transformed into world-leading trials of potential neuroprotective drugs. And these results are sparking hope of game-changing treatments, not just for MS, but across neurodegenerative diseases.

Professor Alan Thompson, Chair of the Stop MS Scientific and Clinical Ambassadors comments ‘The Stop MS Appeal was incredibly bold and showed huge vision. It was very ambitious. but it’s been incredibly successful, both in terms of the money raised, but also and, more importantly, what’s been achieved through this funding: the research. We’ve addressed all our goals. We’ve moved the dial forward in every area.’

Jeremy Chataway, Professor of Neurology at University College London and the National Hospital Queen Square, says: To come from zero to where we are now is remarkable. We’ve brought to life a trials network that never existed. It’s put the UK on the map.

Giving hope to people living with progressive MS

Thanks to the Stop MS Appeal the MS Society UK has been able to build an entirely new clinical trials network for progressive MS. One of the people who has felt the impact personally is Jacqueline Krarup, who lives with secondary progressive MS in the UK. When she was diagnosed in 2008, she had only one treatment option. When it didn’t work, she had nowhere else to turn. Through the Stop MS Appeal, Jacqueline has been able to take part in two clinical trials.

Jacqueline says: ‘Both trials have meant so much to me because I felt like I was doing something. And I have that sneaky hope that the trial might help.’

Jacqueline’s sister also lives with progressive MS, making every bit of progress even more meaningful for their family. ‘Jacqueline adds: If we can stop things getting to the level Yolanda and I are at, that would be the icing on the cake. And if not for our generation, then for our children’s.’

The future

Looking ahead, the MS Society UK aims to make the most of the Stop MS Appeal legacy by taking its world-leading clinical trials and translational research programmes forward.

The MS Society UK are leading the Octopus trial,  the world’s first multi-arm, multi-stage (MAMS) trial for MS. It’s designed to transform the way treatments for progressive MS are tested. It merges several trials into one mega-trial to test several potential treatments at the same time. Although this is the first time a trial like this has been done in MS, this approach has helped revolutionise other conditions such as Prostate Cancer.

Over the next few years, the Octopus trial will report its first interim analysis result. It will add new treatment arms and become a fully embedded, international research platform. It will be able to answer questions about both pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments. The growing consensus within the research and clinical communities is that the mechanisms underpinning MS progression can start at the earliest stages of the condition. The MS Society aims to support a greater focus on understanding and targeting so-called smouldering MS.

You can read the Stop MS Appeal Impact report and learn about the appeal on the UK MS Society website.