Engaging Thoughts
— Laura Kolaczkowski

ECTRIMS 2016 (European Committee for Treatment and Research in MS) produced lots of stories with exciting headlines about advances in MS research — and hopefully you read many of them here at MS News Today. As I went through the various presentation titles, there were a couple that jumped…

If only we were cherub faced children, then perhaps someone would have listened to us in the past few years as we voiced concern and then outrage over the escalating costs of our MS disease modifying therapy (DMT) drugs. I’ve listened to the outcry in recent weeks about the astronomical…

The importance of getting a representative group of people, also known as subjects, engaged in  clinical trials cannot be understated. There is so much that we need to know when it comes to multiple sclerosis, but the picture cannot be complete unless the cohort of subjects includes people from…

There was an almost audible gasp in the room as I was making a presentation recently at a multiple sclerosis talk.  What did I say that was so shocking?  I merely said – if you don’t agree with your prescribed course of treatment, it is perfectly OK to speak up…

Most of us with MS rely on pharmacological assistance to make it through the day.  I know taking pills by the handful is the regimen of many people, whether they are sick with multiple sclerosis or one of many other disorders.  I was surprised at my own emotional reaction…

Karen Staman and I met a while back through a National Institute of Health and Duke University research collaborative effort.  She is a scientific writer by trade, which means she sits through lots of conversation and puts everyone else’s thoughts into cohesive sentences that can then be published, and…

  You want to help find answers about multiple sclerosis but don’t know how, and I hear your frustration about being unable to contribute in meaningful ways. Let me share with you the news that REAL MS (Research Engagement About Life with MS) was launched this summer, and I…

This idea is so simple. But it has been overlooked for years until the partners of Gray Consulting, a Philadelphia firm, connected the dots and developed a better way to engage and retain people in clinical trials.  Scott Gray, CEO, took time out to speak with me about…

Do you take your drugs as they are prescribed?  It turns out a lot of us don’t and that is a concern to the people in charge of our healthcare dollars. The California Association of  Health Plans estimates that costs for prescription for chronic diseases such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid…

Can we all agree that research studies are important and they are necessary to prove whether a concept works or it doesn’t? Even from the biggest failures, we can learn more. We can also all agree that research has to be done via properly conducted studies to be accepted as…

We wait in anticipation for multiple sclerosis (MS) drugs to clear Phase 3 clinical trials and get to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval, but I honesty knew little of the process that takes place before the large-scale testing of drugs in Phase 3. I was selected to…

This chewing gum handout in the exhibit area of the recent Drug Information Association (DIA) 2016 meeting says it all from the pharmaceutical company perspective – recruiting patients for their studies is often a distasteful and difficult process. While I appreciated the gum in this package, this image left a…