Participants in COMBAT-MS

All Swedish university clinics and Kaiser Permanente Southern California participated in the initial basic study. The study included just under 4,000 people in Sweden who have been diagnosed with MS and started a first disease-modifying drug treatment or made a first drug change from 2011 to 2018. The study had a clinical expert group with representatives of the various participating clinics, an international scientific expert group, and a group of interest representatives who included representatives of patient organizations in Sweden and the USA.

In the continuation of the project, the work is carried out within the framework of the Karolinska Neuro-Immunology & MS Center (KNIMS). The project also forms a basis for our participation in a European network of prominent MS centers in brain imaging; Magnetic Resonance Imaging in MS (MAGNIMS):

Participating research group leaders are:

Fredrik Piehl, professor, senior physician in neurology, KI – clinical aspects, biomarkers

Thomas Frisell, docent, KI – pharmaco-epidemiology, biostatistics

Katharina Fink, docent, senior physician in neurology, KI – clinical aspects, pregnancy outcomes

Tobias Granberg, docent, KI - neuroradiology

Maja Jagodic, professor, KI – genomics, biomarkers

Ingrid Kockum, professor, KI – genetics, lifestyle factors