Advances in the understanding and treatment of multiple sclerosis. Boston, Massachusetts, USA, 28-29 October 1992.

Basic and applied research on multiple sclerosis (MS) has become increasingly focused on the development and testing of new therapeutic agents for this devastating disease. After a generation or more of exposing patients to non-specific immunoregulatory and other agents that have been, at best, of minimum benefit and significant potential or actual toxicity, attention has turned to attempts to identify treatment modalities that might be used in a more specific, effective and safe fashion. This trend has not been lost on the emerging biotechnology industry, which tends to view MS as both a disease to be explored on its own and as a disease whose solution may also open doors into other chronic diseases of purported autoimmune etiology, such as rheumatoid arthritis, type I diabetes, and others. These trends toward an increasing biotechnological approach to MS, coupled with an academic and industrial focus on the disease, were the clear motivations behind a recent two-day conference entitled "Advances in the Understanding and Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis" held in Boston and sponsored by a commercial meeting planner, International Business Communications USA Conferences, Inc.