Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis Approved for Major Funding Award from Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to Create MS Patient-Powered Research Network

A team led by the Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis (ACP) has been approved for a funding award by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to create the Multiple Sclerosis Patient-Powered Research Network (MS-PPRN). The MS-PPRN is one of 29 health data networks that were approved for a total of $93.5 million from PCORI to form the PCORnet: the National Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network, a new national resource that aims to boost the efficiency of health research.

ACP will build on its existing network of more than 3,200 participants, 60 research teams, and MS specialty clinics around the country to create a national patient-powered research network for MS in partnership with the Complex Adaptive Systems Initiative at Arizona State University and Feinstein Kean Healthcare. The MS-PPRN will feature patient-centric governance and will be supported by an integrated IT and communications platform featuring an ADA-compliant, patient-driven and controlled portal (iConquerMS™) that can be accessed regardless of geographical location and healthcare provider.

“The MS Patient-Powered Research Network is a ground-breaking initiative that will help to drive research to end MS forever,” said Timothy Coetzee, Ph.D., Chief Advocacy, Services, and Research Officer for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

“We are extremely pleased that PCORI is funding the Accelerated Cure Project’s program to create the MS Patient-Powered Research Network,” said Edward Abrahams, Ph.D., President of the Personalized Medicine Coalition. “We believe such programs comprise a major cornerstone for a new era in which broad-based patient engagement that recognizes individual variation and productive usage of data will lead to faster discoveries and improved care for patients.”

The iConquerMS™ portal will give patients the opportunity to provide health-related, demographic, and electronic health record (EHR) information that can be shared in a de-identified fashion with researchers who are investigating topics that are important to patients, such as comparative effectiveness of therapeutic agents. The MS-PPRN will be fully integrated with the Clinical Data Research Networks and the Coordinating Center of PCORnet.

Patients will also have the option of contributing biological samples through home-based collection or local laboratories to support biomarker research in MS. Additionally, educational content about the nature and practice of research, information about the participant cohort and studies supported by the MS-PPRN, and direct communications with researchers via the portal will provide more knowledge about MS research and allow patients to contribute their own ideas.

ACP’s 18-month goal for enrollment in the MS-PPRN is 20,000 people with MS (5% of the estimated MS population in the United States), starting with the 3,200 participants in the current repository network. Outreach will be made through ACP’s existing participant and supporter base, its network of top-tier MS clinics, other MS clinics and community neurologists, highly cooperative MS advocacy organizations who have agreed to invite their members, and social media and other communications channels.

“We congratulate ACP and the MS-PPRN team on receiving this award and look forward to working with them on this effort to help improve the quality of life for those affected by MS,” said Doug Franklin, President & CEO of the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America and President of the MS Coalition, a collaborative network of independent MS organizations.

Continue reading of the ACP accomplishment found here

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