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Multiple Sclerosis Community Advisory Board (MS CAB)

EMSP launched the Multiple Sclerosis Community Advisory Board (MS CAB) in December 2021 to become a beneficial partner in the research and development of treatments for MS that are safe, effective, and tolerable. In 2022, the MS CAB members had several meetings with EMSP project and industry partners.

Patient Community Advisory Boards (CABs) are groups established and operated by patient advocates and facilitated by EURORDIS, Rare Diseases Europe and EUPATI Spain, a patient education specialist. CAB members are people living with a specific condition, a close family member or carer, and a member of a patient organisation that works with the disease.

CAB discussions are held in a neutral setting and are structured around the principles of confidentiality, transparency, sharing and openness. This can help researchers to co-create a patient driven agenda for more meaningful and impactful outcomes.


CABs may facilitate discussions on the latest developments and challenges related to research, as well as procedures in our disease area with the sponsors of clinical research for example. Activities might include providing advice to optimize clinical trials for better and faster results, accelerate treatments, or a cure.






In the coming years, the MS CAB will offer the following opportunities:
  • To influence the research and development pipeline for multiple sclerosis treatments so that it better meets the needs of patients and carers.
  • To increase access to, and reimbursement of, multiple sclerosis treatments across Europe.
  • To improve awareness and understanding of multiple sclerosis, both nationally and across Europe, within the healthcare system, academia, industry, and EU institutions, and among the public.
  • To recruit, train and support more individual patient advocates and experts to work within individual European countries and across the region.

The MS CAB is a group of dedicated MS community activists and patient advocate members from different European countries, who have knowledge of scientific, as well as policy-related issues. It offers a pool of patient experts with the aim of meeting with companies, researchers and other stakeholders to provide expert knowledge.

The EMSP MS CAB currently comprises of patient experts from Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Belgium, Romania and Croatia, all of whom are living with MS, and who have received training in several scientific as well as policy-related issues.


Through the MS CAB we would like to bring the MS patient perspective via a structured and independent platform to contribute to development of initiatives and research that impact directly the people living with MS.

In 2022, the MS CAB members had several meetings with EMSP project and industry partners. They have also received a series of 8 trainings provided in collaboration with EUPATI (European Patients Academy on Therapeutic Innovation) Spain.



Discover previous EMSP annual reports

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