Parliamentary Reception

On Monday November 17th a Parliamentary Reception was held to share the latest results from the Risk-sharing Scheme (RSS) for MS drugs.

As the administrator for the RSS the MS Trust has worked for the last 12 years with the five parties to the Scheme namely the Department of Health, Biogen Idec, Bayer, Merck Serono and Teva to collect ongoing clinical data from 5,610 people with MS across the UK.

The results now available show that the RSS has been very effective at delivering MS drugs in the UK at a cost effective price. The data also shows that the drugs are clinically effective in reducing the progression of the disease.

In addition 72 centres now have specialist teams providing MS expertise to all people with MS across the UK and investment has also been made in MS specialist nursing, therapist provision and administrative and educational support.

The RSS was truly innovative when it was launched in 2002 and the Minister for Life Sciences, Mr George Freeman, speaking at the reception spoke about the RSS as a model for working in the future.

As part of the reception the MS Trust called upon:

• The Department of Health, the NHS and the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to work together to ensure none of this progress is lost, to secure for the future fair and equitable access to cost effective MS treatments and to maintain ongoing investment in MS services.
• The specialist health professionals to review their services and work with clinical commissioning groups to ensure the development of joined up comprehensive MS services for people across the UK.
• The pharmaceutical industry to continue to work in partnership with other parties to continue to develop MS services.