About the Authors

Harald Hegen

harald.hegen@i-med.ac.at

Affiliation Department of Neurology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

Michael Auer

Affiliation Department of Neurology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

Gabriel Bsteh

Affiliation Department of Neurology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

Franziska Di Pauli

Affiliation Department of Neurology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

Tatiana Plavina

Affiliation Biogen, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America

Janette Walde

Affiliation Department of Statistics, Faculty of Economics and Statistics, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

Florian Deisenhammer

Affiliation Department of Neurology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

Thomas Berger

Affiliation Department of Neurology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria

Competing Interests

I have read the journal's policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: H. Hegen has participated in meetings sponsored by, received speaker honoraria or travel funding from Bayer Schering, Biogen, Merck Serono and Novartis, and received honoraria for acting as consultant for Teva Pharmaceuticals Europe. M. Auer reports no competing interests. G. Bsteh reports no competing interests. F. Di Pauli received travel funding and/or speaker honoraria from Biogen Idec and Genzyme. T. Plavina is an employee of Biogen and holds stock/stock options in the company. J. Walde reports no competing interests. F. Deisenhammer has participated in meetings sponsored by or received honoraria for acting as an advisor/speaker for Bayer Healthcare, Biogen Idec, Genzyme-Sanofi, Merck, Novartis Pharma, and Teva-Ratiopharm. His institution has received financial support for participation in randomized controlled trials of INFb-1b (Betaferon, Bayer Schering Pharma), INFb-1a (Avonex, Biogen Idec; Rebif, Merck Serono), glatiramer acetate (Copaxone, Teva Pharmaceuticals), Natalizumab (Tysabri, Biogen Idec), in multiple sclerosis. He is section editor of the MSARD Journal (Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders). T. Berger has participated as a consultant in meetings sponsored by and received honoraria (lectures, advisory boards, consultations) in the past 12 months from pharmaceutical companies marketing treatments for multiple sclerosis: Biogen, Merck, Novartis, ratiopharm, Roche, Sanofi Aventis, and TEVA. Thomas Berger and his institution have received financial support by unrestricted research grants and clinical trial participation from Alexion, Bayer, Biogen, Merck, Novartis, Octapharma, ratiopharm, Roche, and Sanofi Aventis. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization: HH TB. Formal analysis: HH JW TP TB. Funding acquisition: TP TB. Investigation: HH MA GB FDP. Visualization: HH JW. Writing – original draft: HH. Writing – review & editing: HH MA GB FDP TP JW FD TB.