DALLAS – The North American Registry for Care and Research in MS, a national database of multiple sclerosis patients, and the first of its kind, is expected to change multiple sclerosis care in the next decade.
The NARCRMS, which acts as both a database and a registry, will collect patient information from MS centers across the United States over time. It is modeled after the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), and it’s a collaboration between the industry and MS centers to create an open source database, "available in real time to patients, physicians, and industry," Dr. Kottil W. Rammohan, professor of clinical neurology and director of the MS center of excellence at the University of Miami, said at a meeting of the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers and the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis.
The NARCRMS, not to be confused with NARCOMS (North American Research Committee on Multiple Sclerosis), hasn’t launched yet – it will be established later this year – but the leaders have great hopes for it, and say that it will help find answers to questions that exist because of a lack of data.
For instance, there are very few head-to-head trials comparing drugs with each other. The database could provide insight and the answer, said Dr. Rammohan.
More information and details will be available once the database is launched, but Dr. Rammohan provided an overview of the NARCRMS, and explained why a database hasn’t been established until now.
Dr. Rammohan said he had no relevant financial disclosures.
On Twitter @naseemmiller