Kloth, Nadine http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1473-303X
Lemke, Jolene
Wiendl, Heinz
Meuth, Sven G.
Duning, Thomas
Johnen, Andreas
Article History
Received: 18 October 2019
Revised: 26 November 2019
Accepted: 27 November 2019
First Online: 5 December 2019
Compliance with ethical standards
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: Nadine Kloth reports no competing interests. Jolene Lemke reports no competing interests. Heinz Wiendl receives honoraria for acting as a member of Scientific Advisory Boards and as consultant for Biogen, Evgen, MedDay Pharmaceuticals, Merck Serono, Novartis, Roche Pharma AG, Sanofi-Genzyme, as well as speaker honoraria and travel support from Alexion, Biogen, Cognomed, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Gemeinnützige Hertie-Stiftung, Merck Serono, Novartis, Roche Pharma AG, Sanofi-Genzyme, TEVA, and WebMD Global. Prof. Wiendl is acting as a paid consultant for Abbvie, Actelion, Biogen, IGES, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi-Genzyme, and the Swiss Multiple Sclerosis Society. His research is funded by the German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), Deutsche Forschungsgesellschaft (DFG), Else Kröner Fresenius Foundation, Fresenius Foundation, Hertie Foundation, NRW Ministry of Education and Research, Interdisciplinary Center for Clinical Studies (IZKF) Muenster and RE Children’s Foundation, Biogen GmbH, GlaxoSmithKline GmbH, Roche Pharma AG, Sanofi-Genzyme. Sven G. Meuth receives honoraria for lecturing, and travel expenses for attending meetings from Almirall, Amicus Therapeutics Germany, Bayer Health Care, Biogen, Celgene, Diamed, Genzyme, MedDay Pharmaceuticals, Merck Serono, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, ONO Pharma, Roche, Sanofi-Aventis, Chugai Pharma, QuintilesIMS and Teva. His research is funded by the German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), Else Kröner Fresenius Foundation, German Academic Exchange Service, Hertie Foundation, Interdisciplinary Center for Clinical Studies (IZKF) Muenster, German Foundation Neurology and Almirall, Amicus Therapeutics Germany, Biogen, Diamed, Fresenius Medical Care, Genzyme, HERZ Burgdorf, Merck Serono, Novartis, ONO Pharma, Roche, and Teva. Thomas Duning received honoraria and travel expenses from Genzyme, Shire, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Boehringer-Ingelheim Pharma, Sanofi Aventis, Eisai, Novartis, Bayer Vital, Merz Pharma, Actelion, Amicus for serving as a speaker and consultant. He received research support from Genzyme, Shire, Amicus and Actelion. For conducting of studies on dementia, he received grants from Novartis, Merz Pharma, Roche and Biogen. Andreas Johnen received honoraria and travel expenses for acting as a speaker for Actelion Pharmaceuticals and Biogen unrelated to the content of this study.
: The study was conducted at the Department of Neurology of the University Hospital Muenster and was approved by the ethics committee of the regional Medical Association (Ärztekammer Westfalen-Lippe, 2012-365-f-S).
: All participants gave written informed consent.