Celia Oreja-Guevara has received honoraria from Biogen Idec, Novartis, Sanofi Genzyme, Almirall, the healthcare business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. Diego Centonze is an advisory board member of Almirall, Bayer Schering, Biogen, GW Pharmaceuticals, the healthcare business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi-Genzyme, Teva and has received honoraria for speaking or consultation fees from Almirall, Bayer Schering, Biogen, GW Pharmaceuticals, the healthcare business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, Novartis, Roche, anofi-Genzyme, Teva. He is also the principal investigator in clinical trials for Bayer Schering, Biogen, the healthcare business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, Mitsubishi, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi-Genzyme, Teva. His preclinical and clinical research was supported by grants from Bayer Schering, Biogen Idec, Celgene, the healthcare business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi-Genzyme, Teva. Gavin Giovannoni has received compensation for serving as a consultant or speaker for or has received research support from AbbVie, Aslan, Atara Bio, Biogen, BMS-Celgene, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssens/J&J, Japanese Tobacco, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, LifNano, Merck & Co, Kenilworth, NJ, the healthcare business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany/EMD Serono, Moderna, Novartis, Sanofi and Roche/Genentech. Sven Schippling receives research grants from US EMD Serono. Pieter van Galen has received honoraria from the healthcare business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germanyfor MS in the 21st Century activities, and has received consulting and speaking fees from Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, Merck N.V.-S.A., Overijse, Belgium, an affiliate of KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, Celgene R&D Sarl, F. Hoffman-La Roche, NV Roche SA, Mylan GMBH and Excemed.

This article is based on findings from previous studies and a debate; it does not report any new studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.