MS 109236 Newsletter ENG - Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada

Volume 34 Number 1 Spring 2007
We are very proud to announce an
important new initiative to support
Canadian youth directly affected by
multiple sclerosis. The MS Society
of Canada Scholarship Program
will offer scholarships to assist with
post-secondary education for
teenagers and young adults who
have MS or have a parent who lives
with the disease. The program was
launched in early February and is
now accepting applications for
funding toward 2007/2008 full- or
part-time education.
Early last year, Aaron Solowoniuk
of Juno Award-winning Canadian
punk rock band Billy Talent, publicly
announced that he has lived with MS
for close to a decade. He has been
working with the MS Society on
ways to raise funds and awareness
among teenagers and young adults.
The result is the MS Society of
Canada Scholarship Program, supported
by Billy Talent and Friends.
Aaron Solowoniuk and Billy Talent
have been involved in
a number of fundraising
initiatives in support
of the MS Society
of Canada Scholarship
Program. Warner Music Canada has
donated $50,000, based on first-week
sales of Billy Talent II. And Billy
Talent, along with Alexisonfire and
We are pleased to welcome
Yves Savoie as
president and chief
executive of the
Multiple Sclerosis
Society of Canada and
director (ex officio) of
the MS Scientific
Research Foundation.
“Speaking on behalf of
the national board of directors,”
says Lou Maroun, chair of our
national board of directors, “We are
very pleased to welcome Yves as
our new chief executive. We are
confident that his exceptional leadership
skills and insights will
strengthen our organization in every
way, and benefit everyone we serve
and support.” Before joining us on
February 7, Yves was executive
Tysabri
now
available
see page 9
New scholarship program opens
doors for youth
Highlights Inside
WALK momentum grows 2
Award-winning actions 3
Advocacy issues 4
Fiscal financials 11
Moneen, recently performed a benefit
concert in Toronto in support of
the project. Tickets for the show,
continued on next page
Chief executive begins new era
director of the Family
Service Association of
Toronto, serving vulnerable
families and
individuals facing a
variety of challenges.
And from 1998 to
2003, he was national
executive director of
Muscular Dystrophy
Canada and a passionate advocate
for the inclusion of people with disabilities.
Yves also teaches nonprofit
management in the MBA program
at York University and is vicechair
of the board of Imagine
Canada. Yves takes over from the
retiring Alistair Fraser, who led the
Society for 25 years in its goal to
provide strong and effective support
to people living with MS.

continued from cover
which sold out in eight minutes, netted
an additional $20,000 for the
scholarship program.
The MS Society of Canada
Scholarship Program will grant
awards of $500, $750 or $1000 to
each successful candidate. Awards
to part-time students will be prorated
based on credit hours. The
number of awards available each
year will depend on funding and the
quality of the applications. In 2007,
we expect to award scholarships
totaling $80,000.
All applicants must meet basic
eligibility criteria, fully complete
the application, and submit by
April 15. Scholarship Management
Services, a non-profit educational
support and student aid service
organization, will select scholarship
finalists on the basis of
demonstrated financial need, aca-
It’s time to get closer
to a cure! The
Super Cities WALK
for MS is held
every year to raise
money for MS
research and services.
This year, it will
bring people
together in 160
communities across
Canada in the
spring and early fall. Last year,
69,000 Canadians WALKed or
wheeled to raise over $12 million
with the support of their friends
MS Canada, Spring 2007, p. 2
demic record,
leadership and
participation in
school or community
activities,
work experience,
statement of educational
and
career goals, an
outside appraisal,
unusual personal
or family
circumstances, and an essay on the
impact of MS on their life.
The National Client Services
department of the MS Society of
Canada will convene a panel of
reviewers (both volunteers and
staff) to make the final scholarship
decisions.
Applications are available to
download from our website at:
www.mssociety.ca until the closing
The Super Cities WALK for MS:
Taking a step closer to a cure
and family, and hundreds
of MS Society
volunteers.
Register now for
the 2007 Super
Cities WALK for MS
in your community.
This is a fun, familyfriendly
event for
people of all ages.
WALK sites have
routes with varying
distances and wheel-chair accessible
paths. For more information,
visit www.supercitieswalk.com or
call 1-800-268-7582.
Accepting a great gift for
Canadian youth from Aaron
Solowoniuk (centre) of punk rock
band Billy Talent are (left to
right) Jon Temme, vice-president
client services, Caroline Horcher,
supervisor fundraising events
and events media, Helga
Schnider, assistant vice-president
Ontario fundraising, and former
chief executive Alistair Fraser.
Volume 34, No 1, Spring 2007
Published by the
Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada
175 Bloor St. E., Suite 700
Toronto ON M4W 3R8
Tel: (416) 922-6065
Fax: (416) 922-7538
Toll free: 1-866-922-6065
Website: www.mssociety.ca
Charitable Registration
no. 10774 6174 RR0001
Our Mission: To be a leader in finding
a cure for multiple sclerosis and
enabling people affected by MS to
enhance their quality of life.
President & Chief Executive:
Yves Savoie
Editor: Marianne Chilco
Translator: Charlotte deCelles
ISSN 0315-1131 – Issued quarterly
Canadian Publications Mail Product
Sales Agreement No. 40063383

Congratulations and thank you
to our 2006 award recipients
1
National President’s Award –
Scott Gillis (photo 1)
Diagnosed with MS 13 years ago,
Scott Gillis is a lawyer and partner
with the law firm Waterbury
Newton in Wolfville, Nova Scotia.
Since 1998, Scott has been
involved in fundraising, social
action and client services, has
served as legal counsel and is a
director on the Atlantic Division
board. As past chair of the Social
Action Committee, Scott successfully
lobbied for provincial drug
coverage for MS drug therapies and
has become the voice of people living
with MS in Atlantic Canada.
National Opal Award – Robin
Rankine (2)
The Opal Award acknowledges
the dedication and devotion displayed
by Jack Opal and his
daughter Minda in supporting and
caring for Evelyn Opal, a founding
member of the MS Society of
Canada, in her personal struggle
with MS. This year’s recipient of
the national award is Robin
Rankine of B.C., in recognition of
her outstanding commitment and
care of her husband Ian and broth-
2 3 4 5
er Simon Porteous. Robin is a
strong advocate for services, programs
and resources, and has been
a steering committee member for
White Rock’s WALK for MS and
a keen fundraiser.
National Award of Merit,
Member - Dr. A. Dessa
Sadovnick (3)
Dr. A. Dessa Sadovnick, principal
investigator in the Canadian Collaborative
Project on Genetic
Susceptibility to MS, was awarded
the National Award of Merit
for her outstanding contribution
in furthering our work on a
national basis. Dr. Sadovnick’s
mother and aunt were among
those who worked with Evelyn
Opal in the 1940s to form the
Montreal MS group that evolved
into the MS Society of Canada.
“When I became interested in
genetics,” says Dr. Sadovnick, “It
was Evelyn Opal who said to me
‘writers are always told to write
about what they know, so why
don’t you study what you know –
multiple sclerosis’. I took that
advice and began my work on the
genetics of MS.”
National Award of Merit, Non-
Member – CanWest Global (4)
Global’s national news anchor,
Kevin Newman (left) accepts this
year’s National Award of Merit from
media relations manager Stewart
Wong. In 15 years, Global’s support
has grown from regional partnerships
in the early 90s to national
sponsor of the Super Cities WALK
in 2006. Kevin Newman has been a
strong advocate for the MS cause
and the MS Society of Canada is
proud to have him as key supporter.
John Alexander Media Award
The Toronto Sun’s Jason Paul (left)
received the print media award for A
Noble Cause, a poignant story of an
Ontario woman with MS who overcomes
some of her mobility challenges
with the help of her dog,
Noble. CTV’s medical/health correspondent
Avis Favaro and W-Five
producer Brett Mitchell accepted the
broadcast journalism award for The
Pioneers, a W-Five segment documenting
the journey of Dyan Dixon
who underwent a ground-breaking
but risky procedure involving bone
marrow transplant in the hopes of
arresting progress of MS.
MS Canada, Spring 2007, p. 3

Government
Relations
Closing in on income
support gap
One of the MS Society’s priority
disability income issues was featured
on the front page of The
Globe and Mail in late December.
The article broke the news that
the federal government is possibly
looking at ways to close an
income support gap faced by
many people with moderate or
episodic disabilities and illness.
The article also featured MS
Society member Cheryl Elliott of
Ottawa, who described her dilemma
of not being disabled enough to
qualify for Canada Pension Plan
disability benefits once her 15
weeks of Employment Insurance
(EI) was finished.
This is a situation experienced
by many people with MS, whose
symptoms come and go, as well as
others with arthritis, lupus, AIDS
and some types of cancer. The MS
Society is recommending to government
that both EI and CPP disability
benefits be more flexible
so people can work part-time and
receive benefits part-time.
The Globe and Mail said the
study by University of Victoria
professor Michael Prince suggests
extending EI benefits, introducing
a CPP program to cover partial
disabilities or creating a new program
for people with episodic disabilities.
The MS Society will continue to
work on moving this important
issue forward.
MS Canada, Spring 2007, p. 4
MS Society calls for MS drug
coverage in 2007
Across the country, provincial funding
of the disease modifying therapies
(DMTs) are based on two sets
of criteria: medical and financial. In
Newfoundland and Labrador, the
medical eligibility criteria may be
consistent with most other
provinces but the financial eligibility
criteria are not.
While the provincial government
covers drug costs for people on
social assistance, low-income seniors
and those in long-term care, the
MS Society in Atlantic Canada estimates
that over 600 people with
MS in the province do not have
access to needed therapies because
they do not meet the government’s
eligibility criteria. Many others
with MS have been forced to quit
their jobs and go on social assistance
to qualify for drug coverage.
“You essentially have to be living
in poverty in order to get any kind
of assistance,” says Sean Kirby,
chair of the Atlantic Division gov-
Information for people with disabilities
on the Canada Revenue
Agency (CRA) website (www.craarc.gc.ca)
has been expanded. As
well, a new publication by Service
Canada called Services for People
with Disabilities provides an
overview of Government of Canada
ernment relations committee and
vice chair of the board. “So we’re
seeing moms and dads getting
divorced and young couples holding
off on having children or saving
for retirement just so they can get
the drugs they need to manage their
disease and slow its progression.
It’s disgraceful.”
The Atlantic Division has developed
an intense government and
public relations strategy that is
generating significant media coverage.
“We’re mobilizing our
grassroots volunteers to write letters
to the Premier, book meetings
with their Members of the House
of Assembly, call into talk radio
shows and write letters to the editor,”
says Kirby. “The response
from provincial and local media
has been tremendous.”
And, by working closely with the
opposition parties and involving
community leaders and health care
professionals, the MS Society
intends to keep up the momentum
and pressure on the government
The right tax information can
save you money
services and programs for people
with disabilities. It is available at
www.pwd-online.ca or by calling 1-
800-622-6232. And an article on tax
tips for people with MS, their caregivers
and families is on the MS
Society website at www.mssociety.ca
[keyword: tax tips].

COMBINATION THERAPY:
A new treatment strategy for MS?
Are two (or more)
drugs better than
one? This is the
concept at the core
of researchers’ current
interest in
exploring combination
therapy as a
new strategy for
treating and managingrelapsingremitting
MS. The
Dr. Jock Murray
approach, which
has had success in epilepsy and some cancers,
is now being investigated in connection
with MS.
“Many lymphomas and leukemias can
now be cured but there’s never been a
magic bullet for these disorders,” says Dr.
Jock Murray, professor of neurology at
Dalhousie University in Halifax and one of
the founding fathers of MS clinics in
Canada. “Instead, it has been a long
process of developing combinations of different
therapies.”
The question of whether multiple treatments
working together will prove more
beneficial than one treatment working alone
is particularly crucial in MS since current
treatments are only partially effective.
Current MS therapies are designed to
reduce inflammation in the hope that this
will reduce the amount of degeneration
and ultimately affect progression of the
disease.
The medications work by different
mechanisms:
• The interferons – Avonex, Betaseron
and Rebif – by reducing the T-cells’ ability
to enter the central nervous system;
also, inducing anti-inflammatory chemicals
to occur;
• Glatiramer acetate (Copaxone), by inducing
the T-cells to behave as anti-inflammatory
cells, which can then enter the
central nervous system and reduce
inflammatory activity;
• And now, natalizumab (Tysabri), by blocking
T-cells from binding to the blood-brain
barrier, thus preventing them from migrating
from the bloodstream into the brain.
These current therapies provide a handy
starting point for combination studies in the
lab and in clinical trials.
Dr. Amit Bar-Or, a neurologist and neuroimmunologist
at the Montreal
Neurological Institute explains: “Most of the
therapies that have been approved to date,
based on the clinical trial data, have shown
in their Phase 3 clinical studies that the
drugs, be it one of the interferons or
Copaxone, will decrease new MRI activity
by certain parameters such as relapse rate
by about 30-40% on average. Having treatments
is better than no treatment but the
question is, can we do more than 30-40%?
Can we get 60, 70, 80% or more?”
The concept of combination therapy for MS
strives to achieve this 60% to 80% efficacy by
combining medicines that target MS by differ-
MS Canada, Spring 2007, p. 5

ent but complementary
mechanisms of
action, hopefully
without significantly
increasing complications
or side-effects.
That is the ideal.
In MS, it is
believed that the
immune system’s
immune cells,
including T-cells,
Dr. Amit Bar-Or
cross the blood
brain barrier, enter the central nervous system
– the brain and spinal cord – and attack
components of myelin, the insulation that
protects nerves, as well as the nerves themselves.
This causes inflammation and
destruction of myelin and axons.
If the trials prove positive, combinations
made up of current MS treatments could
likely be among the first available. Also on
the horizon are regimens possibly combining
one of the injectable therapies with one
or more of the oral therapies being studied
for use in MS, or even combining two different
oral medications.
Some combinations under investigation
Avonex and Copaxone
The first large-scale clinical trial testing the
combined use of Avonex and Copaxone for
relapsing-remitting MS is underway in 80
medical centres across North America,
including MS clinics in Calgary, Ottawa and
Toronto. Known as the CombiRx trial, it
seeks to determine whether treating a person
with Avonex and Copaxone together is
MS Canada, Spring 2007, p. 6
more effective in reducing relapse rates
than treatment with either drug alone. The
trial is also investigating the safety and tolerability
of this combination. The study is
following 1000 people for 3 years. Results
are expected in late 2009.
This trial typifies some of the challenges
of clinical trials for combination therapies: a
large number of patients must be recruited
and studied, and followed over a long time,
which increases the cost of the trial and,
ultimately, the cost of the drug.
The CombiRx trial has no placebo-only
group, reflecting current thinking that, in a
serious disease like MS, it is ethically difficult
to put a patient on a placebo for three
years when therapy is available.
Tysabri and Avonex
Tysabri has been studied in combination
with Avonex, however, in a major MS study,
two people developed a severe brain infection
caused by a virus in a rare but often
fatal disease called progressive multifocal
leukoencephalopathy (PML). The affected
patients had been taking Tysabri for more
than two years in combination with Avonex.
Another patient with Crohn’s disease (not
taking Avonex, but with prior treatment with
other immune therapies) also has a similar
complication. This led to the drug companies’
voluntary removal of Tysabri from the
market, a halting of all clinical trials involving
Tysabri, and a delay in Tysabri’s
release in Canada as a treatment for MS.
Tysabri was eventually approved by Health
Canada in 2006 but as monotherapy – to
be used on its own. Additional research is
needed to clarify the risks and benefits of

“For us to use combination
therapy, the effectiveness of
the combination would have
to be significantly better than
a single therapy.”
the Tysabri/Avonex combination.
The Tysabri experience highlights another
of the challenges of combining therapies: in
pursuing a greater effect, you may also be
increasing the risks. It has had a sobering
effect on some of the excitement surrounding
combination studies in MS.
Mitoxantrone and Copaxone
Mitoxantrone (Novantrone) is an immune suppressant
used in cancer treatment. It is
approved in the United States and Europe for
certain patients with MS. Though not
approved in Canada for MS (it was never submitted
for approval), it is sometimes prescribed
for worsening cases of relapsingremitting
MS or to treat active secondary-progressive
MS. Researchers are looking into
combining mitoxantrone with Copaxone, in
sequence. “The idea is to see if first suppressing
the inflammatory immune response of the
MS patient with a short course of mitoxantrone
would give Copaxone a better chance
to act,” says Dr. Bar-Or. “Would this be more
effective than just taking Copaxone alone?”
A small study with 27 patients showed that
this combination reduced relapse rate by
90%. Larger studies are in progress, including
a 15-month study, headed by Dr. Tim
Vollmer of the Barrow Neurological Institute
in Arizona, in which participants are divided
into two groups: one group taking Copaxone
for 15 months; the other group taking three
doses of mitoxantrone instead of the usual
12 doses, then Copaxone for the remaining
months. Early results showed the combination
had positive effects on MRI disease
activity. Results from the extension phase of
the study (24- and 36-month follow-up data)
are expected to be available in 2007.
Mitoxantrone can be toxic to the heart in
high doses so in combination studies it is
used at a lower level, underscoring some of
the difficulties of designing combination studies
– what therapies are you going to combine,
in what dosage and in what sequence?
Minocycline, Statins
Researchers are investigating combining the
injectable MS therapies with some of the oral
medications currently being studied for use in
MS, such as minocycline, an antibiotic used
to treat acne, and statins, which are used to
lower cholesterol levels. Basic research,
research using animal models, and now, different
levels of clinical trials suggest these
oral medications may have benefit in the MS
disease process. As well, minocycline is
inexpensive and not toxic with long-term use.
And, the statins are generally well tolerated.
Dr. Caroline Geenen, a community neurologist
at the Markham-Stouffville Hospital
in Markham, Ontario, relishes the prospect
of having more therapeutic strategies to
offer her patients. “We’re very hopeful that
there will be a better drug, perhaps an oral
drug, and definitely a cure. The current
medications have certainly improved the
MS Canada, Spring 2007, p. 7

quality of life of patients with relapsingremitting
MS, but they’re not cures. They
still don’t keep people, at times, from progressing
their MS, so we’re always on the
lookout for better, easier-to-use and less
expensive drugs.”
She cautions, “For us to use combination
therapy, the effectiveness of the combination
would have to be significantly better
than a single therapy.”
One reason is cost. Avonex, Betaseron,
Rebif and Copaxone each cost $16,000 -
$17,000 per year. Tysabri rings in at $33,000.
Combine any two and you have doubled or
tripled the current annual costs. With many of
her patients enrolled in the Ontario government’s
Trillium Drug Program for people with
high prescription drug costs, Dr. Geenen says,
“Either the government or private insurance will
have to be pretty heartily convinced that there
is major benefit to combining drugs over using
single drugs, simply because of the cost.”
Another issue is injection. The original four
MS treatments are injected at different fre-
MS Canada, Spring 2007, p. 8
quencies – daily, every other day, three
times a week, weekly – and in different
locations – into the muscle, under the skin.
Doubling injections or taking them one and
a half times as often may prove difficult for
some patients. Tysabri is given by infusion,
once a month, which means having to go to
an MS clinic, hospital or infusion centre, to
receive the medication intravenously.
Then there are the possible side-effects
from combining two or more types of medications.
Despite these potential barriers, Dr. Jock
Murray is confident that combination therapy
will bring better treatments for all forms
of MS. “I believe that effective pharmacotherapy
for MS will come from understanding
how to use different medications
in different sequences at different times for
different types of MS. And it likely won’t be
a magic bullet, where people find one therapy
that suddenly eliminates the disease. It
will be by learning how to use combinations
with different approaches.”

Research in Brief
Moving closer to a cure every day
Tysabri available
on prescription
Health Canada approved Tysabri
(natalizumab), the new treatment
for relapsing–remitting MS, as a
therapy for people with relapsingremitting
in late September 2006,
and people are beginning to
receive their monthly infusions at
infusion clinics.
The general prescribing indication
for Tysabri is for people with MS
who have had an inadequate response
to other disease modifying therapies
or are unable to tolerate them.
The base price of Tysabri from
Biogen Idec Canada is $2,809.18
per vial (the monthly treatment
dose). The annual base price is
$33,710.16. Generally, there is an
additional mark up at the retail level.
At this time, reimbursement for
the cost of the treatment is available
only from private health
insurers. None of the provincial
governments are, as yet, reimbursing
the cost of Tysabri. Most
are waiting for the recommendation
from the Common Drug
Review (CDR) process. CDR is
the joint federal/ provincial/ territorial
process that examines
whether drugs are cost effective
and if they should be covered by
public drug programs.
The MS Society is closely monitoring
developments with CDR and
provincial governments to determine
the need for future advocacy efforts.
For more details, go to
www.mssociety.ca and enter key
search word “Tysabri”.
MS later in life not
necessarily bad
Developing MS as an older adult (50
plus years old) does not necessarily
mean more disability, according to
researchers at the University of
British Columbia. The study by
Helen Tremlett, Ph.D., and Virginia
Devonshire, M.D., October 2006
Neurology, suggest that treatment for
late-onset MS should not be different
than the usual treatment approach
once the disease course is determined.
Dr. Tremlett is the recipient of
an MS Society of Canada Dr. Donald
Paty Career Development Award.
While MS is usually diagnosed in
people aged 15 to 40 years old, it
can also develop in children and in
adults aged 50 years and older.
Previously, the development of MS
at an older age, especially in men,
was believed to lead to a worse outcome,
which might call for immediately
beginning aggressive therapy.
For more details, go to
www.mssociety.ca and enter key
search words “late-onset MS”.
Sex hormone study
underway in US
The first large-scale trial of a sex
hormone for the treatment of MS is
underway at seven research centres
in the United States. One hundred
thirty women newly diagnosed with
relapsing-remitting MS will receive
the hormone estriol in combination
with Copaxone or a non-active
placebo for two years.
If successful, this clinical trial will
lay the groundwork for a larger, definitive
trial that could lead to a new
treatment option for women with MS.
Its results may also have implications
for women with other autoimmune
diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis.
In Canada, research has found
that MS affects women three times
as often as men. Other researchers
have observed for a number of years
that MS attacks decline during pregnancy,
leading to the speculation
that estriol, which rises significantly
during pregnancy, may be responsible
for this easing of symptoms.
For more details, go to
www.mssociety.ca and enter key
search word “estriol”.
Many with MS have abnormal
liver test results
Researchers at the University of
British Columbia report people
with MS who were in the placebo
(non-treated) groups of clinical trials
have greater than expected
abnormal liver test results. Lead
investigator Dr. Helen Tremlett
advises people with MS and their
physicians need to take extra care
with medications that might affect
the liver and to consider routine liver
testing with some medications.
The study was reported in the
October 2006 Neurology and used data
from the Sylvia Lawry MS Research
Centre in Munich, Germany. Dr.
Tremlett is funded by the MS Society
of Canada through a Dr. Donald Paty
Career Development Award.
The researchers found by year one
nearly 20 per cent of the 813 people
had certain abnormal liver test
results. By year two this had
increased to more than 25 per cent.
MS Canada, Spring 2007, p. 9

continued from previous page
Over the two-year period, there was
an over three-fold increased risk of a
person with MS having an elevated
liver test result compared to expectations.
However, overall the risk of
severe liver test abnormalities was
low. Risk factors for having an abnor-
A chat with Dr. Owens
Dr. Trevor Owens
MS Canada recently talked with Dr.
Trevor Owens, chair of the MS
Society’s Biomedical Research
Review Committee. In this role, he is
in the unique position of seeing all
research funding proposals submitted
to the MS Society. .
Part I focuses on the research
application process and Dr. Owens’
own research. The next issue of MS
Canada will feature Dr. Owens’ discussion
on stem cells, progressive MS
and Canada’s role in the MS world.
Q: How and why did you come to
serve as chair of the Biomedical
Research Review Committee?
I enjoyed working with the MS
Society biomedical review committee
(as a member) because the level
of involvement is very high. All of
my colleagues who have served on
it have made the same observation.
MS Canada, Spring 2007, p. 10
mal liver test were male gender and
higher body mass index.
In an earlier study also funded by
the MS Society of Canada, Dr.
Tremlett and Dr. Joël Oger (also of
the University of B.C.) found beta
interferons, prescribed to modify
It is very rewarding for a scientist
when there is a sense of commitment
and purpose. Each application
receives a very thorough review. It
sounds a little contradictory to say
that we have to work harder and we
enjoy it, but as scientists we enjoy
reading and discussing science.
Q: How much time would you
estimate that you spend reviewing
applications?
In December, I will receive the full
applications and I will read all of
them and write reviews on some of
them. So December through
January I will give each grant a
couple of hours on average. Written
reviews take about a day…it all
adds up to a number of days work,
which is spread out over a six-week
period. The committee will come
together at the end of January with
our full one or two page reviews.
We will each have read all of the
applications. We then sit for two
days in committee to deliberate and
make recommendations.
Q: Speaking to some of your own
research, you’ve been investigating
how immune cells can cross
the blood-brain-barrier. Can you
tell us a little more about that and
what you hope to achieve with
your research?
the course of MS, can also increase
the risk of an elevated liver tes. The
current study did not include people
on beta interferon therapy.
For more details, go to www.mssociety.ca
and enter key search words
“liver test”.
We know that there is an immune
process that happens in the brain.
We can see the immune cells there.
They are not normally there, so that
looks like something that is wrong
and should be fixed. Some of the
current MS therapies, that are beneficial,
are directed against that
inflammatory process. My research
is to try and understand what that
inflammatory process is doing in the
brain and how we would stop it, to
the benefit of the patient.
On that last point, there is a growing
sense that the immune response
is not just a villain. Our immune
system is able to get into our brain,
likely not only because something
terrible has gone wrong in the brain,
but also because it should be able to
get there, to deal with infections for
instance, or to repair damage. The
mechanisms underlying some of
these processes are not well understood
yet. So the idea that we
should plain and simple prevent
entry of the immune system to the
brain is probably a little simplistic.
We would like to understand under
what circumstances we should
allow it and under what circumstances
we should prevent it.
Join us next issue for part II of this
interview.

2005/2006 Review
The MS Society of
Canada had a banner
year in 2006
with $30 million
in revenue raised
through MS Society
events to
support research and
services for people with MS. This
represented an increase of 11 per cent
over funds raised in 2005. “The
record results this year are an incredible
testament to the passion and
commitment of our volunteers, supporters
and staff,” says Ken Mayhew,
national vice-president of fundraising.
The MS Society’s main events,
including the Super Cities Walk for
MS and RONA MS Bike Tour, contributed
more than $23 million.
Corporate dinners, golf tournaments
and other community fundraisers
brought in $6.9 million nationwide.
For more financial highlights,
please see our 2005/2006 Annual
Report online at www.mssociety.ca
under About Us. You can also call
1-866-922-6065, ext 2217 to
request a printed copy.
STATEMENT OF REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE
For the year ended August 31, 2006 (in thousands of dollars) 2006 2005
$ $
Revenue
Donations and special fundraising projects –
net of related expenses 25,459 22,204
Grants 2,415 2,26
Allocations from United Way 1,205 1,000
Investment income 904 1,01
Memberships 90 96
30,073 26,581
Expenditure
Program Services
Research 9,004 6,604
MS Clinics 908 904
Client services 9,794 9,285
Public education 2,501 2,210
Chapter development 1,623 1,406
Government relations 978 956
24,808 21,365
Support services
Administration 3,214 3,253
Fundraising 1,479 1,413
4,693 4,666
29,501 26,031
Excess of revenue over expenditure for the year 572 550
This issue of MS Canada is supported through an
unrestricted eductional grant from Teva Neuroscience
and Shared Solutions ®
MS Canada, Spring 2007, p. 11

New publications
for youth
We are very pleased to introduce two supportive
publications for children and
youth with parents who have MS. Our
thanks to RBC Foundation and J.P.
Bickell Foundation for their support of
Keep S’Myelin and to TD Bank Financial
Group for Keep Your Balance. “It can be
easy to overlook the impact of a parent's
multiple sclerosis on a child," says
Stephen Voisin, Executive Director with
RBC Foundation. "Keep S'Myelin is a
valuable resource that will help them
understand the changes in their family
lives because of their parent's MS.
Information brings comfort, and RBC
Foundation is proud to support this publication
as it brings comfort to those children
and families who need it most.”
Your subscription
to MS Canada
To update your mailing
address or subscription
preferences, please contact
your division office.
Division contact information
can be found at:
www.mssociety.ca,
or you can call
1-800-268-7582
or email:
info@mssociety.ca
MS Canada, Spring 2007, p. 12
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