MS seminar in Indy 12/4

[shoshin]

Just wondering if anyone is going to this MS in Balance seminar on "Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis and Its Management" in Carmel (suburb of Indianapolis). It's the evening of Thursday, Dec. 4 and apparently is sponsored by the Rebif people.

http://www.mslifelines.com/programs/local-seminars/view/1525.jsp

Has anyone ever been to one of these things? Are they likely to be worthwhile?

sho

[shoshin]

Well, I did end up going to this seminar, which was definitely slanted to put Rebif in a good light, but was reasonably upfront about that and at least made some effort to supply info about all the DMDs (if only because the legal people made them do it).

First there were some PowerPoint slides narrated by Dr. David Mattson, the MS neuro at IU. The slides were apparently supplied by the Rebif people, but I don't know how much of the narration was. Very basic stuff about MS and then an overview of the DMDs and a discussion of a head-to-head study that apparently showed that Rebif outperformed Avonex on some measures so it might be preferable in more aggressive MS. Dr. Mattson did say that he used all of the DMDs in his practice and that they each have their advantages and disadvantages.

Then there was a presentation by a Rebif nurse about their services and set-up and at the end there was an inspirational speech by one of Rebif's "ambassadors."

After the nurse and before the inspirational speech, there was a q&a period where the neuro took questions. This was by far the most interesting part and I wish the whole thing could've been q&a, but I guess that wouldn't serve the drug company's purposes.

I guess the other thing that struck me was that this was the first time I had been around a whole bunch of people with MS in person. The only person I know with MS is my cousin and she looks normal to me (although I know she doesn't feel that way). At this seminar were a few people in wheelchairs, more with canes, and a lot who walk funny like I do. Now I understand why the nurse practitioner (who used to work for a neuro) at the walk-in clinic at my workplace was ready to ask me how long I had had MS just from seeing me walk down the hall.

sho

[shoshin]

If you go to http://www.mslifelines.com/programs/local-seminars/index.jsp, they list all the upcoming programs by state. They also say you get "complimentary educational materials" so then I wonder how much propaganda you get with that.

sho

[sllowe]

Hi Sho,

I've not been, but thanks for letting us know. I wonder if they do this all over the map or something. I'll check out the link...

ttys,
shell