Gavin Giovannoni On Why Time Matters in Multiple Sclerosis

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Disclaimer

The opinions expressed in this interview are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the views of Future Medicine Ltd.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

G Giovannoni is a steering committee member for AbbVie’s daclizumab trials, Biogen-Idec’s BG12 and daclizumab trials, Novartis’ fingolimod and siponimoid trials, Teva’s laquinimod trials and Roche’s ocrelizumab trials. He has received consultancy fees from Biogen-Idec, Merck-Serono, Novartis and Genzyme-Sanofi advisory board meetings, GSK’s Phase 3 MS trial programme and Synthon BV DSMB activities. He has received honoraria for speaking at Genzyme-Sanofi and Biogen-Idec meetings. G Giovannoni has no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

Editorial and proofreading support in the production of this manuscript was provided by Oxford PharmaGenesis Ltd.

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Gavin Giovannoni

Gavin Giovannoni was appointed in November 2006 to the Chair of Neurology, Blizard Institute, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London and the Department of Neurology, Barts and The London NHS Trust (all UK). In September 2008, he took over as the Neuroscience and Trauma Centre Lead in the Blizard Institute. Gavin did his undergraduate medical training at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, where he graduated cum laude in 1987. He moved to the Institute of Neurology, University College London, Queen Square, London (UK) in 1993 after completing his specialist training in neurology in South Africa. Following 3 years as a clinical research fellow, under Professor Ed Thompson, and 2 years as the Scarfe Lecturer, working for Professor W. Ian McDonald, Gavin was awarded a PhD in immunology from the University of London (UK) in 1998. That year, he was also appointed as a Clinical Senior Lecturer, Royal Free and University College Medical School (UK), and in 1999 he moved back to Institute of Neurology, Queen Square (UK). He was promoted to Reader in Neuroimmunology in 2004. His clinical interests are multiple sclerosis (MS) and other inflammatory disorders of the central nervous system. Gavin is particularly interested in clinical issues related to optimizing disease-modifying therapies in MS. His current research is focused on Epstein–Barr virus as a possible cause of MS, defining the ‘MS endophenotype’, MS-related neurodegeneration, MS biomarker discovery, MS clinical outcomes and immune tolerance strategies. His team focuses on translational research and therefore has an active clinical trial program.