ROCKLAND, Mass. and NEW YORK, Dec. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --EMD Serono, Inc., a subsidiary of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and Fast Forward LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, today announced the third group of recipients to receive funding through their collaboration, which is designed to accelerate innovation and commercial development of multiple sclerosis (MS) therapies.

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The awards total approximately $1.4 million and will be distributed from the Accelerating Commercial Development Fund created by EMD Serono and Fast Forward to encourage early-stage drug discovery for MS. The Accelerating Commercial Development Fund is open to early-stage for-profit commercial organizations that have achieved Series A or comparable investment funding. The other fund in the collaboration, the Accelerating Innovation Fund, is open to academic institutions, non-profit research organizations, and seed-stage for-profit commercial organizations.

EMD Serono and Fast Forward distributed a call for proposals to fund projects directed towards the development of therapies to prevent, treat or reverse nervous system damage in MS. These priority research areas were determined by a joint steering committee comprised of Fast Forward staff and representatives from EMD Serono and Merck KGaA.

The following organizations will receive funding:

Under the Accelerating Commercial Development Program:

"We are pleased to announce the 2012 funding recipients whose work has the potential to broaden our knowledge and understanding of MS, and hopefully, result in new treatment options for people living with this disease," said Bernhard Kirschbaum, PhD, Executive Vice President, Global Research and Development at Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. "Our ongoing collaboration with Fast Forward reflects our sustained commitment to leveraging internal as well as external expertise in furthering scientific excellence in MS."

EMD Serono and Fast Forward entered into an initial two-year, worldwide agreement in March 2009, and recently extended the collaboration. As part of the up to $19 million collaborative agreement with Fast Forward, EMD Serono provides the majority of funding for the research awards, with Fast Forward contributing 10 percent of the total financing of the awards disseminated from each of the two funds.

"Advancing new treatments for people with MS requires continuing research and discovery in order to find new and better treatments," said Dr. Timothy Coetzee, Chief Research Officer at the National MS Society and Fast Forward. "We are pleased to have the opportunity to advance research through the continued collaboration between Fast Forward and EMD Serono. We remain committed to being a driving force of research and treatment options to stop MS, restore function, and end MS forever, and we look forward to learning more from the results of these innovative projects."

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EMD Serono, Inc. and Fast Forward, LLC Announce Recipients of Funding for Multiple Sclerosis Research

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