From Reus to Puertollano – 665 kilometres – in 29 and a half hours. This is the result of an epic challenge fulfilled by José María Moya, a relative of a multiple sclerosis (MS) patient. This anonymous citizen decided to undertake a cycling challenge last September 7 and 8 to raise funds for the research of this disease at IDIBELL and raise awareness of the setbacks and situation of the patients who suffer from it.

The funds raised by José María, who has burned more than 12200 calories during his challenge, will fund IDIBELL’s Multiple Sclerosis research group, led by Dr. Sergio Martínez Yélamos, which is part of the Neurology Service of Bellvitge University Hospital. The Multiple Sclerosis Unit (MSU) of the South Metropolitan Territorial Management (GTMS) is an interdisciplinary unit within the first healthcare network for multiple sclerosis in Spain (“EMxarxa”), together with the multiple sclerosis units of three hospitals in southern Catalonia.

Clinical research plays a very important role for MSU. As a reference centre, the MSU participates in the most relevant clinical trials that are currently being carried out both nationally and internationally, offering to all “EMxarxa” patients the possibility of entering them. At the same time, the investigation of biomarkers of activity, response to treatment and prognosis is one of the MSU main lines of research. The clinical follow-up of patients EDMUS (European Database for Multiple Sclerosis) is also used to carry out epidemiological and health outcome studies of MS.

Multiple sclerosis is a neurological disease, demyelinating and chronic, which is currently the second cause of disability within the young population. There are more than 45,000 people with multiple sclerosis in Spain and although there are multiple treatments to modify the evolution of the disease, multiple sclerosis does not have a definitive cure, and all the causes that produce it are not known with precision. It is for these reasons that efforts and resources must be devoted to maintaining and encouraging basic and applied research in this field.