A Collaborative Approach to Addressing PML: The PML Consortium

Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is a rare but severe and often fatal disease of the central nervous system most commonly associated with severe immunodeficiency. PML occurs in many clinical conditions as shown in the table below (Table 1) [1-23]. The greatest number of PML cases occurs as a sequel to HIV infection. This was especially prominent in the early days of AIDS, prior to combined antiretroviral therapy, but continues in developing countries where current therapies are not readily available, or patient compliance is not optimal. In the past decade there was a notable increase in number of PML cases associated with several novel therapeutic products, and this is the major reason why PML Consortium has a strong interest in understanding this disease. The PML Consortium was founded in 2009 by Biogen Idec, Elan, and Roche with a vision of finding methods to better predict, prevent, and treat PML.