It’s only now that I’ve had the chance to listen to a podcast I recorded back in September on the Final Day Highlights of ECTRIMS 2025, which has inspired this post. If you’d like to listen to it here is the link: Final Day Highlights of ECTRIM…–The ECTRIMS Podcast – Apple Podcasts
So, what do I think should be the focus of MS research?
- MS is biologically stratified rather than clinically pigeonholed;
- Along these themes biomarkers and AI guide personalised treatment decisions;
- Predictive modelling and digital monitoring need to be developed to empower patients and clinicians alike;
- A broader array of treatments addresses unmet needs, including progressive disease;
- Remyelination and neurorepair become achievable therapeutic goals;
- Cognitive health and quality of life are central outcomes;
It is easy to lose focus, and even leading experts in the field can be prone to losing perspective. Bringing all of the above together into a single, coherent view is even more challenging.
While individual innovations can appear disparate, their convergence points to a single direction: earlier intervention, continuous monitoring, adaptive treatment strategies, and trials designed to directly change patient outcomes. I believe the challenge for the field is not a lack of innovation, but maintaining focus. What I mean by this is that we should be bringing these advances together into coherent clinical pathways sooner rather than later.
Source: multiple-sclerosis-research.org