1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Neuromyelitis Optica Consortium Act . 2. Findings Congress finds the following: (1) Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is a devastating neurologic disease leading to blindness and paralysis. (2) There are an estimated 16,000 to 17,000 people with NMO in the United States and a quarter-million worldwide. (3) Women are affected 4 to 5 times more than men, and Afro-Caribbeans are about 2.5 times more predisposed to NMO than Caucasians. The reasons why Blacks are disproportionately affected cannot be fully understood without further studies. (4) The average age at diagnosis is between 40 and 50 years, but the range is broad and includes children as young as 3 years of age and adults as old as 90 years of age. (5) NMO incurs substantial costs for affected patients and their families. (6) The cause of NMO is unknown, but it is hypothesized to be autoimmune in nature. (7) More than 90 percent of NMO patients will suffer recurrent disease and accumulate neurologic disability. (8) Because of their relatively low overall incidence, orphan diseases like NMO frequently do not receive sufficient attention and research funding. (9) No single institution has a sufficient number of patients to independently conduct research that will adequately address the cause of NMO. (10) There has been no comprehensive study analyzing all relevant clinical, biological, and epidemiological aspects of NMO to identify potential risk factors and biomarkers for NMO. (11) We can apply our understanding of NMO to the study of other autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis and systemic lupus erythematosus. 3. Sense of Congress It is the sense of Congress that there is a need— (1) to establish and coordinate a multicenter research effort based on collaboration between regional consortia and governmental and nongovernmental entities in order to— (A) comprehensively study the causes of NMO; and (B) identify potential biomarkers of disease activity