We thank the MS in the 21st Century steering group members for their participation in the development of these tools, and the respondents of the survey for their valuable contribution to the dataset.
Funding
The MS in the 21st Century initiative is financially supported by Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. The journal’s Rapid Service Fee and Open Access Fees were also funded by Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. All authors had full access to all of the data in this study and take complete responsibility for the integrity of the data and accuracy of the data analysis.
Editorial Assistance
Administrative support and editorial input was provided by Cello Health Communications. Medical writing assistance was provided by Cello Health Communications (Owen Webb, Helen Hammond, and Rudy Sarmah). Administrative support, medical writing assistance, and journal submission fees were funded by Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany.
Authorship
All named authors had full access to all of the content within this manuscript and take complete responsibility for the integrity and accuracy of the content. All named authors meet the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) criteria for authorship for this article, take responsibility for the integrity of the work as a whole, and have given their approval for this version to be published.
List of Members of MS in the 21st Century
The members of MS in the 21st Century are as follows: Birgit Bauer, Diego Centonze, Maria Paz Giambastiani, Gavin Giovannoni, Jürg Kesselring, Dawn Langdon, Sarah A Morrow, Jocelyne Nouvet-Gire, Celia Oreja-Guevara, Maija Pontaga, Stanca Potra, Peter Rieckmann, Sven Schippling, Jane Shanahan, Heidi Thompson, Pieter van Galen, Patrick Vermersch, and David Yeandle.
Disclosures
All Steering Group members receive honoraria from Merck KGaA as part of their work on MS in the 21st Century.
Peter Rieckmann has received honoraria for lectures from Almirall, Apple Healthcare, Baxter, Bayer, Biogen Idec, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Cerner, Daiichi Sankyo, Genpharm, Genzyme, Medtronic, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, Sanofi-Aventis, Siemens AG, and Teva. He has received research grants from Bayer, EMD Serono, Novartis, Teva, the MS Society of Canada, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Hertie Foundation, Oberfranken-Stiftung, and German Neurology Foundation. He is on an advisory board or steering committee for AbbVie, Bayer, Biogen Idec, Novartis, Merck, Teva, the German Multiple Sclerosis Society, and Canada Drug Review.
Gavin Giovannoni is a steering committee member for AbbVie (daclizumab trials) and Biogen Idec (BG12 and daclizumab trials), and has received honoraria for speaking from Canbex Therapeutics. He is a clinical advisor regarding the development of VSN16. He has received consultancy fees for advisory board meetings for GW Pharmaceuticals, and for speaking at the launch of Sativex in Norway.
Dawn Langdon has participated in speakers bureaus for Bayer, Merck, Almirall, Excemed, Teva, Roche, Novartis, Biogen, and Sanofi; has received consultancy honoraria from Novartis, Bayer, Merck, Biogen, Teva, and Sanofi; and has received research grants from Bayer, Merck, Novartis, and Biogen, all paid to her institution.
Patrick Vermersch receives honoraria and consulting fees from Biogen, Sanofi Genzyme, Bayer, Novartis, Teva, Merck, Celgene and Almirall. Research support from Biogen, Sanofi Genzyme, Bayer and Merck.
Sven Schippling receives consulting and speaker fees and travel grants from Biogen Idec, Bayer, Merck, Sanofi Genzyme/Sanofi Aventis, Novartis, Teva, and research grants from Bayer, Biogen Idec, Merck Serono, Sanofi Genzyme/Sanofi Aventis, Novartis.
Jürg Kesselring receives honoraria from Merck.
Diego Centonze is an advisory board member of Almirall, Bayer Schering, Biogen, GW Pharmaceuticals, Merck, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi-Genzyme, Teva and has received honoraria for speaking or consultation fees from Almirall, Bayer Schering, Biogen, GW Pharmaceuticals, Merck, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi-Genzyme, Teva. He is also the principal investigator in clinical trials for Bayer Schering, Biogen, Merck, Mitsubishi, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi-Genzyme, Teva. His preclinical and clinical research was supported by grants from Bayer Schering, Biogen Idec, Celgene, Merck, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi-Genzyme, Teva.
Sarah A Morrow has received honoraria for speaking, consulting, and advisory board participation from Biogen Idec, EMD, Genzyme, Novartis, and Roche. She has acted as site principal investigator for clinical trials for Novartis, Genzyme and Roche. She has received investigator initiated trial funding from Genzyme.
Celia Oreja-Guevara has received honoraria from Biogen Idec, Novartis, Sanofi Genzyme, Almirall, Merck.
Heidi Thompson has received honoraria for advisory board participation and travel grants from Merck and Biogen.
Nektaria Alexandri is a Merck KGaA employee.
Jane Shanahan, Pieter Van Galen and David Yeandle have nothing to disclose.
Compliance with Ethics Guidelines
This publication does not contain any clinical studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors. All survey responses were undertaken on a voluntary basis with acceptance of terms outlining the use of the data. All responses were received and analyzed in an aggregated and anonymous format.
Data Availability
The datasets during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.