The Forcing Function - A Guest Blog By Gary Pinder

January 30, 2012

We met the awesome Gary Pinder through Twitter, and we are honored he is sharing his MS story with us. He is truly inspirational and despite having MS, he has been traveling the world with his family. He has hiked the Inca trail to Machu Picchu, and in April 2011, he and his family hiked to Everest Base Camp in Nepal! Here he shares a story of hope and a wonderful disposition that life is full of possibilities:

Automobiles do not allow the driver to enter reverse gear while the vehicle is in motion. It is impossible to start a microwave with the door open. Our behavior is shaped by these “forcing functions”. I have heard it said that Benjamin Franklin would announce new inventions before he actually invented them. He did this as a* forcing function* to make him do something he knew could be done and put pressure on himself to complete the task.

How does this relate to multiple sclerosis (MS)?

I recently read the story of a lady incapacitated by MS, unable to walk without an assistive device or the help of an individual. When her son announced his wedding, she set herself the goal of walking down the aisle without the need for any assistance. Using the wedding as a forcing function, for months she participated in regular exercise and physical therapy with the dream of achieving her goal. In front of her extended family, on the day of the wedding she walked down the aisle unassisted.

One year after I was diagnosed with MS, our first child, Brianna, was born. It had been a difficult year getting used to the diagnosis of a potentially catastrophic illness. Now I experienced the joy of seeing our newborn cradled in my arms while the sun rose on that first morning of her life. I knew by then that the only certainty about living with MS was uncertainty. I did not know if I would be able to run and play chase with her when she became a toddler. I did not know if the sight of a disabled father would embarrass her as a teenager. I did not know if it would become a burden to her and to my wife.
On that first day of my daughter’s life, I made myself a promise. A promise I knew would not be easy to keep. I promised her and myself that on the day of her high school graduation I would walk into the event without requiring any assistance. When her brother Kyle was born two years later, I made the same promise to him.

That promise has been my forcing function. It was there that first day of self-injection with a disease modifying therapy (DMT). It is there when an IV is placed into my arm for steroids to arrest a relapse. It is there when my wife and I make decisions for me to take high-risk medications to arrest disease progression. It is there when I exercise. It is there when I drive once a week to play indoor soccer. All of these actions are done for one reason – to keep my promise.

I am now 16.5 years post-diagnosis. My daughter is just over 2 years away from graduating from high school and my son 4 years. Thanks to being in a completely peaceful relationship, fully compliant with DMT, staying physically active, accessing the best health care available, and an abundance of luck, I have every possibility of keeping my promise. I recently devised a new set of forcing functions. There are now a couple of future college graduations that I will need to walk into without any assistance. And if my children one day choose to do so, there are also a couple of wedding aisles I will need to walk down. One of those wedding aisles will require me to have my beautiful daughter holding my arm – the ultimate in forcing functions. Each of us with MS faces a unique journey with this disease against a backdrop of huge differences in our personal lives. No matter what steps you take to ward off the progression of this ailment, the forces of nature will claim their victories. For defense against these forces, find a motivating force of life, that forcing function, which will act as your inspiration and your guide no matter the situation. If your force of life is a goal, no matter how small, share it with friends and family. In the same way that Benjamin Franklin announced inventions before he invented them, sharing your goals with others will act as the forcing function to help you achieve those goals.

Gary and his family at Everest Base Camp: altitude 17,598 feet

Gary records inspiring stories he finds about the MS journey on Twitter. Follow here @MSThrivers.

Join the Virtual Race to Erase MS

January 17, 2012

Welcome to the Virtual Race to Erase MS

Our 19th Annual Race to Erase MS Gala will take place this year on May 18, 2012 in Los Angeles, along with our MS Forum and Expo the next day. The Virtual Race is a complement to the Nancy Davis Foundation for Multiple Sclerosis annual event.
Many of our supporters who do not live in Los Angeles, or are not in a position to personally contribute $1,000 or more to attend the event, have asked us how they can help support our Race to Erase MS Gala and raise funds to find a cure for MS. This year we are kicking off our first Virtual Race to Erase MS to include everyone who would like to “race” with us to the finish line to find a cure for MS!

Our supporters and followers are able to help us Erase MS by raising pledge money in the same way they would for a run/walk event. You get to create your own fundraising page and personalize your page to reflect your goals! Earn pledge rewards too, which includes T-Shirts, gift baskets, and possibly tickets to our 19th Annual Race to Erase MS event on May 18, 2012.

The Race to Erase MS has rasied over 35 million dollars in the last 18 years to fund ground-breaking MS research bringing us closer to finding a cure! Now you can participate and help us fund important science research through our Virtual Race! Proceeds benefit our Center Without Walls Program, where the combined efforts and collaboration of these doctors are advancing our efforts to find a cure for multiple sclerosis.

We hope that you will join us by participating in our Virtual Race to Erase MS and help us Race even faster to the finish line to find a cure for multiple sclerosis!

Click here to learn more and register for the Virtual Race to Erase MS! Together as a team we can Erase MS!

BioMS Medical Cleared By FDA To Initiate Pivotal Phase III Multiple Sclerosis Trial

January 12, 2012

Edmonton, Alberta , January 19, 2007 – BioMS Medical Corp (TSX: MS), a leading developer of products for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS), announced today that it has received clearance from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of its Investigational New Drug Application (IND) for the initiation of a pivotal phase III clinical trial to investigate the use of MBP8298 as a treatment for patients with secondary progressive MS.

“The clearance to proceed with a phase III trial in the U.S. is a significant step towards bringing MBP8298 to the worldwide market,” said Kevin Giese, President and CEO of BioMS Medical. “There are approximately 400,000 Americans with MS and close to 50% of patients have secondary progressive MS. Between the U.S. initiative and the on-going pivotal phase III trial in Canada and Europe , we are successfully executing our global development plan for MBP8298.”

The IND allows the commencement of a pivotal phase III secondary progressive MS clinical trial in the US and has been granted on the basis of satisfying FDA criteria regarding preclinical, chemistry, manufacturing and safety data from the completed and ongoing clinical studies for MBP8298.

MAESTRO-03 Phase III US Trial

The pivotal phase III clinical trial in the US, named MAESTRO-03 (A Double-blind, Placebo Controlled Multi-center Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of MBP8298 in subjects with Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis), will be evaluating MBP8298 for the treatment of secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS). The trial is a randomized, double-blind study enrolling approximately 510 patients who will be administered either MBP8298 or placebo intravenously every six months for a period of two years. The primary clinical endpoint for the trial is defined as a statistically and clinically significant increase in the time to progression of the disease as measured by the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS), in patients with HLA-DR2 and/or HLA-DR4 immune response genes (up to 75% of all MS patients are HLA-DR2 and/or HLA-DR4 positive).

About MBP8298 – Novel Mechanism of Action

In MS patients, the body’s immune system inappropriately attacks the myelin coating around the nerves in the brain and spinal column, whereas healthy people are otherwise “tolerant” of such common body components. The proposed mechanism of action of MBP8298 is, by design, to re-introduce such a state of “tolerance” to a critical portion of the nerve’s Myelin Basic Protein that is an immunological site of attack in many MS patients. This is accomplished by the I.V. injection of MBP8298 every six months.

Phase II and long-term follow-up treatment of MS patients with MBP8298, recently published in the European Journal of Neurology showed that MBP8298 safely delayed the median time to disease progression for five years in progressive MS patients with HLA-DR2 or HLA-DR4 immune response genes.

MAESTRO-01 Trial

The MAESTRO-01 pivotal phase II/III, multi-center, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial is currently being conducted at more than 50 sites across Canada and Europe and will enroll approximately 550 patients who will be administered either MBP8298 or placebo intravenously every six months for a period of two years. The trial is designed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of MBP8298 in patients with secondary progressive MS. The primary clinical endpoint for the trial is defined as a statistically and clinically significant increase in the time to progression of the disease as measured by the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS), in patients with HLA-DR2 and/or HLA-DR4 immune response genes. Time to disease progression in patients with other HLA-DR types will be assessed separately as an exploratory arm of the same study.

To date the trial has successfully passed six safety reviews by its independent Data Safety Monitoring Board.

About Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is thought to affect as many as 2.5 million people worldwide, including approximately 75,000 in Canada , 400,000 in the United States and over 450,000 in Western Europe . MS is a progressive disease of the central nervous system, characterized initially by episodes of paralysis, blindness, sensory disturbances and cognitive impairment. Almost half of all MS patients have the secondary progressive form of the disease.

Webcast

An audio webcast of Mr. Kevin Giese, President and CEO of BioMS Medical, discussing this release will be available at www.biomsmedical.com starting on Monday, January 22, 2007. The replay of the webcast will be available for 90 days at http://www.biomsmedical.com

Genlux Magazine Summer 2011

January 11, 2012

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