Genzyme Partners With Cleveland Clinic To Research Multiple Sclerosis
By Cyndi Root
Genzyme announced in a press release that it has formed a partnership with the Cleveland Clinic to develop new treatments for multiple sclerosis (MS). A joint steering committee will head the effort, planned for a minimum of five years. The initial focus is on the disease pathology and neurodegeneration. Other research goals include pathogenesis and progressive forms of MS.
David Meeker, President and CEO of Genzyme said that the partnership extends Genzyme’s leading position in the MS category. Dr. Jeffrey Cohen, Director at the Cleveland Clinic’s Mellen Center for Multiple Sclerosis said, “This collaboration will allow for the development of innovative approaches to evaluate potential new therapies for progressive MS.”
The New Partnership
With over two million people worldwide suffering with MS, new treatments are urgently needed. Initially, the two will work on the most progressive forms of MS and study the pathology of the disease. Of particular interest is neurodegeneration because MS damages nerve fibers, resulting in permanent damage and disability.
Cleveland Clinic’s Mellen Center for Multiple Sclerosis
The Mellen Center for Multiple Sclerosis at the Cleveland Clinic cares for patients and researches the disease at its facility in Cleveland, OH. The clinic sees about 8,000 MS patients yearly including over 1,500 new patients.
For the past two decades, the research team has been active in basic and applied research. Areas of specialty include imaging, neurorehabilitation, and clinical research. Patients can receive therapy or enroll in a wide variety of clinical research trials focused on a variety of areas, such as genetic studies and novel therapeutics.
Genzyme
Genzyme, a Sanofi company, is headquartered in Cambridge, MA. It operates in several therapeutic areas including rare diseases and neuroimmunological disorders like MS. It offers Aubagio, an FDA approved drug for relapsing forms of MS. In the pipeline are alemtuzumab and teriflunomide. Ongoing research efforts are directed at neuroprotective agents and remyelinating agents to protect the brain against immunological damage and to repair neurons. Genzyme aims to use the advances in MS research and apply them to other conditions such as chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) and neuromyelitis optica (NMO).