This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

Yea! Scott Johnson and his team continue to move forward. Projected licensing of target drug for myelin repair in 2009.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/96588.php
Sharon

so what exactly does this mean? that they will potentially have a drug that could repair our selves

Scott Johnson has confidence the myelin repair foundation will be licensing a first target myelin repair drug for commercial development (clinical trials) in the summer of '09-
Here's what Scott Johnson says....

From the website myelinrepair.org


"As we enter 2008, we continue to have confidence that we will reach our five-year goal of licensing our first myelin repair drug target for commercial development by July 2009.

Our principal investigators have learned a great deal about myelin biology in these past three-and-a-half years. With their expertise and our management and financial support, the ARC model collaboration has delivered results beyond all of our expectations -- 14 new myelin repair targets, a dozen new research tools that have relevance for all neurological disease research, and nine patents filed. This represents an extraordinary rate of productivity.

When MRF was founded, the focus of the ARC model was on accelerating the identification of drug targets, or biological processes, that are involved in myelination and remyelination. As with all dynamic models, the ARC model has evolved into a strategy that not only speeds basic research, but also strategically takes those discoveries and prepares them for commercial development and clinical trials. We have proven that managed, outcome-driven science does accelerate results and we are on the pathway to prove that those results can be effectively translated into patient treatments. I look forward to keeping you updated on the progress of this next critical phase of our work.

This is all good news for patients, and for the pharmaceutical industry that has been facing an increasingly grim outlook as a result of the shortage of novel targets in their pipelines. Our accomplishments in myelin repair and in proving the ARC model for use in all disease research, will make a difference.

We are grateful to our scientific and drug discovery advisors, to our participating laboratories, and to all who have supported our efforts. Thank you all for your continued interest and support."

--Scott Johnson

_________________
Husband dx RRMS 3/07
dx dual jugular vein stenosis (CCSVI) 4/09
dual stents placed 5/09
CCSVI in MS

Their website gets into more details about how they are targeting their research. It seems both smart and realistic. I would very much like to take Bill Gates' bank account and hand it to them.

http://www.myelinrepair.org/myelin_repair/research_results.shtml

Some press about them from the business world. Good timing since I believe they are out looking for investors.

Institutional Innovations
A Silicon Valley nonprofit fostered the development of a radical open-source platform for top-level health research

Not exactly news on the MS front but any signs of activity from MRF are good by me.

Collaborative Drug Discovery and Myelin Repair Foundation Announce Partnership

BURLINGAME, Calif., May 27 --
Collaborative Drug Discovery, Inc. (CDD) announced today that its web-based software, which organizes preclinical research data to help scientists advance new drug candidates, has been selected by the Myelin Repair Foundation (MRF) to enable the foundation's sponsored researchers to collaborate more effectively.

MRF's Accelerated Research Collaboration(TM) (ARC(TM)) model creates a unique partnership between academic researchers, scientific and drug discovery advisors and a centralized management team to define and execute on an integrated research plan that will reduce the time to market for a wide range of patient treatments. Focused exclusively at this time on identifying myelin repair drug targets that will lead to treatments for multiple sclerosis by 2009, MRF provides the business infrastructure for a team of some 30 scientists, working together virtually, from different university laboratories in the U.S. By following best business practices, working on a common research plan, sharing their findings in real time, and piggybacking experiments that might otherwise have taken years to accomplish, the scientists have been able to considerably accelerate their research.


http://www.sunherald.com/447/story/586873.html