Dear Readers,

For over a decade “MS Report” has been covering topics related to multiple sclerosis research, with particular emphasis on novel therapies and the changes they have brought about in everyday clinical practice. This entire issue is dedicated to a medication which has not only significantly modified the treatment approach in multiple sclerosis, but has also paved the way for achieving further significant goals, such as limiting the progression of disability.

Doctors working with MS patients are perfectly aware that there is no one-size-fits-all solution – no single medication will be perfect for everyone and at every stage of the disease. However, there are certain medications which change our expectations and raise the bar for subsequent treatment solutions, which have to meet even higher requirements and bring new benefits. Women of reproductive age are a special population among MS patients. Family planning is a significant clinical challenge for them, as it requires both reliable disease control and mitigation of risks for the fetus and newborn baby.

The authors of the papers featured in this issue of MS Report provide ample evidence for how ocrelizumab has impacted MS treatment expectations and how it continues to do so, also with respect to such aspects as lower treatment costs. This has been extremely welcome and significant due to public funding constraints and limited possibilities to ensure broad access to modern treatment methods.

We are delighted to bring to you articles and reviews by representatives of academic centers from Poznan, Zabrze, Wrocław and Olsztyn. We were honored to receive papers from the (current and former) Presidents of the Multiple Sclerosis and Autoimmune Disease Section of the Polish Neurological Society: Professor Alicja Kalinowska (Poznan University od Medical Sciences) and Professor Monika Adamczyk-Sowa (Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Faculty of Medical Sciences in Zabrze), as well as from experts and practitioners from other centers, including Martyna Lis, MD, PhD, who shares an affiliation with Professor Monika Adamczyk-Sowa, and Justyna Chojdak-Łukasiewicz, MD, PhD (University Center of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Wrocław Medical University), as well as from Beata Zwiernik, MD, PhD, and Jacek Zwiernik, MD, PhD (University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn). We hope that this broad overview of ocrelizumab provided by numerous specialists will shed new light on both the benefits and the challenges associated with its use.

Enjoy!

prof. Dagmara Mirowska-Guzel, MD, PhD
Agnieszka Piechal, MD, PhD