MALVERN, Pa. and WALTHAM, Mass., Nov. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- The Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis, a national nonprofit dedicated to curing MS by determining its causes, and DSG, Inc., the industry's largest privately- held electronic data capture (EDC) solutions corporation, have partnered to create their MS Data Repository. The expanded system will provide real-time access to researchers worldwide, rapidly increasing the flow of information critical in accelerating the march to a cure.

Multiple Sclerosis, or MS, is a chronic demyelinating disorder of the central nervous system affecting over 400,000 people in the US and over 2 million people worldwide. There are 200 new cases diagnosed each week, yet even today the causes are unknown and there is no cure. To accelerate the process of determining the cause(s) of MS and develop a cure, the Accelerated Cure Project has established an MS Sample and Data repository to facilitate promising areas of research. The repository initially consists of a 1000+ subject longitudinal registry conducted at investigator sites nationwide. With the addition of new collection sites and subjects as participants, the project will expand into a large-scale, multidisciplinary MS Repository. The data and samples will be made available to researchers as an open resource, to promote continued MS research and to determine a cure for this debilitating disease.

DSG's flagship EDC product, eCaseLink(TM) will be used to streamline the clinical trial process and provide real-time access to the clinical trial data for the Cure Map. By establishing a repository of the most current information accessible to researchers around the world, ACP hopes to significantly shorten the quest for this cure. As eCaseLink(TM) has been utilized in numerous central nervous system studies and registries, DSG is best suited to utilize this expertise to provide the most timely, accurate and cleanest data for the study.

"Currently, there is no longitudinal repository of blood, and epidemiological and clinical data from people with MS available to researchers looking for the causes," said Art Mellor, President and CEO of Accelerated Cure. "Scientists need access to data on a large scale to make headway into developing a cure. The MS data repository can accomplish this through electronic data capture technology. DSG will help us manage and streamline the data collection now, as well as assist in the expanded collection process as the project grows. eCaseLink(TM) is the best tool to support our efforts to determine the causes of MS."

"The Accelerated Cure Project has done a great thing in spearheading this effort to determine a cure for Multiple Sclerosis," said Tony Varano, President and CEO of DSG, Inc. "With eCaseLink, the MS Data Repository will be available in real-time to researchers around the world. As the repository grows, eCaseLink's scalability will provide the most robust tool for data analysis and information gathering. We are proud to provide both the best tools for reaching this laudable goal and to support this great organization financially in this monumental research program."

About DSG, Inc.

Since 1992, DSG, Inc. has been supporting clinical trial data collection with innovative technology solutions including EDC, ePRO and digital on-demand CRF publishing software to over 300 companies in the life science industry. DSG's products allow friendly, accurate and efficient data capture at any investigator site regardless of the site's technological infrastructure. ECaseLink(TM), DSG's pioneering EDC technology, allows site users immediate server edits, without the traditional need to first save or submit, is fully integrated with eDiaryLink(TM) ePRO, and offers the highest site acceptance, fastest submission speed, and nominal set up time. DSG has successfully supported over 250 clinical trials, at over 14,000 sites, with over 200,000 patients worldwide. For more information, please visit http://www.dsg-us.com/.

About the Accelerated Cure Project

The Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis, http://www.acceleratedcure.org/, is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to curing Multiple Sclerosis (MS) by determining its causes. Accelerated Cure Project believes organizing the research process and encouraging collaboration between research organizations and clinicians can accelerate this effort. A "Cure Map" is currently being developed by the Accelerated Cure Project to establish what is known and what is not known about the causes of MS. From the Cure Map, Accelerated Cure Project will facilitate research most likely to reveal the causes of MS in the shortest time through a large-scale, multidisciplinary, MS Repository. For more information about the Accelerated Cure Project or to make a corporate or individual donation, call 781/487-0008, visit http://www.acceleratedcure.org/, or send an email to info@acceleratedcure.org.

About Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple Sclerosis is a chronic demyelinating disorder of the central nervous system that often results in severe disability including the inability to walk, blindness, cognitive dysfunction, extreme fatigue and other serious symptoms. MS affects over 400,000 people in the US and 2 million individuals worldwide. The disorder occurs twice as often in women as in men. The cause is not known and there is no known cure.

CONTACT: Tammi E. Lake, DSG, Inc., +1-484-913-0210,
tlake@dsg-us.com; or Art Mellor, Accelerated Cure Project, +1-781-487-0008,
art@acceleratedcure.org

Web site: http://www.acceleratedcure.org/

Web site: http://www.dsg-us.com/