People with MS often wait for months or years for an accurate diagnosis and a personalised care plan. They also struggle with monitoring disease worsening and receiving appropriate care along their disease journey. This delays appropriate treatment and can result in worse outcomes, poorer quality of life for people with MS and their caregivers, and increased societal burdens of MS. The rise in the number of patients with long-term conditions, a shortage of neurologists, and increased healthcare costs have also intensified the pressure on healthcare providers and decision makers.
With recent advances in science and technology, there are many opportunities to better address unmet needs and achieve sustainable value for people with MS and for society.
As leaders committed to advancing the standard of care worldwide and working towards health equity, Roche and Genentech are keen to drive change and improve care through healthcare innovation.
THE MS INNOVATION CHALLENGE HAS TWO MAIN FOCUS AREAS
Provide early detection of disease worsening, thus enabling early and efficient treatment
Improve monitoring and prediction of the impact of disease on people's lives, including disability trajectories
Here are the six key criteria against which the submissions will be evaluated:
1. Relevance:
Describe how your proposal has direct and short- to mid-term (up to 5 years) impact on early detection of disease worsening and/or monitoring and prediction of the multidimensional impact of the disease on people’s lives, including disability trajectories.
2. Readiness for implementation & execution:
Clearly describe how the project will lead to changes in clinical practice (improve care, outcomes), the relevance for patient care and who will benefit from the innovation.
3. Technical & innovative merit:
Clearly describe your approach for achieving project objectives, highlight innovative aspects of the project that will impact patient care, and include examples of innovative tools and measures to be implemented. Also mention potential barriers and how you will address them.
4. Project personnel qualifications:
Provide details on the expertise of team members. Can you name any examples of the team executing projects of similar size, scope, and complexity?
5. Patient-centeredness:
Describe if a diversity and inclusion approach or framework will be incorporated into the project (e.g., patients with risk of poor outcomes, or disparities in healthcare). The potential for the project to help patients and HCPs make more informed healthcare decisions and improve health outcomes will also be considered.
6. Stakeholder engagement:
Describe your plan for engaging relevant stakeholders (e.g., academic centres, healthcare systems, patient advocacy groups, or payers).
Funding is available for different types of research, including pilot, proof-of-concept research, and larger, translational projects.
We will consider funding proposals ranging from small pilot, proof-of-concept projects (in the range of up to $200K) to larger translational projects (in the range of up to $1M).
These funding ranges are only given to convey the potential scope of projects and should not be construed as budget targets. The budget for each submission must be appropriate for the proposed work and will be subjected to a fair market value assessment.
Department of Neurology with Institute of Translational Neurology, University of Münster, Germany
Dr. Leorah Freeman
MD, PhD, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, USA
PD. Dr. med Benjamin Friedrich
Co-Founder & Chief Medical Officer of Temedica, Germany
Dr. Ahmed Obeidat
MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Founding Director, Neuroimmunology and MS fellowship, Department of Neurology, Wisconsin Institute of Neurosciences (WINS), Medical College of Wisconsin, USA
Birgit Bauer
Digital Health & Social Media Expert, Patient Expert, Journalist, Speaker, Founder and project coordinator of Data Saves Lives, Germany
Dr. Mitzi J. Williams
MD, FAAN, Medical Director, Joi Life Wellness Group, USA
Prof. Gavin Giovannoni
Professor of Neurology, Blizard Institute, Queen Mary University of London, UK
Kasey Minnis
Executive Director, Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, USA
Prof. Massimo Filippi
Director Department of Neurology, IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele and “Vita e salute” University, Milan, Italy
Amy Perrin Ross
APN, CNRN, MSCN, International Organization of MS Nurses, USA
Prof. Stephen Krieger
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, USA
Prof. Heinz Wiendl
Department of Neurology with Institute of Translational Neurology, University of Münster, Germany
Dr. Leorah Freeman
MD, PhD, Dell Medical School, The University of Texas at Austin, USA
PD. Dr. med Benjamin Friedrich
Co-Founder & Chief Medical Officer of Temedica, Germany
Dr. Ahmed Obeidat
MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Founding Director, Neuroimmunology and MS fellowship, Department of Neurology, Wisconsin Institute of Neurosciences (WINS), Medical College of Wisconsin, USA
Birgit Bauer
Digital Health & Social Media Expert, Patient Expert, Journalist, Speaker, Founder and project coordinator of Data Saves Lives, Germany
Dr. Mitzi J. Williams
MD, FAAN, Medical Director, Joi Life Wellness Group, USA
Prof. Gavin Giovannoni
Professor of Neurology, Blizard Institute, Queen Mary University of London, UK
Kasey Minnis
Executive Director, Multiple Sclerosis Foundation, USA
Prof. Massimo Filippi
Director Department of Neurology, IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele and “Vita e salute” University, Milan, Italy
Amy Perrin Ross
APN, CNRN, MSCN, International Organization of MS Nurses, USA
