News

With so much recent publicity surrounding gene therapy, it’s no surprise that the topic was a major focus of the recent 2019 NORD Rare Diseases & Orphan Products Breakthrough Summit. From diagnosis and clinical trial design to manufacturing, pricing strategies, and ethical concerns, gene therapy — both its high…

Despite skyrocketing healthcare costs, President Trump is committed to protecting the 30 million or so Americans with rare diseases and ensuring timely, affordable access to lifesaving treatments, the nation’s highest-ranking health official said. “We have to think about how our financing system can protect those with serious and rare illnesses.

Cromolyn sodium — a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved anti-inflammatory medication — delayed disease onset and prevented motor neuron degeneration and loss in a mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), researchers report. These neuroprotective effects were accompanied by a decrease in inflammation, highlighting the potential…

Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma America (MTPA) has enrolled a first patient in a Phase 3 clinical trial of an oral suspension formulation of edaravone in treating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). An intravenous form of edaravone (given directly into the bloodstream), developed by Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma and sold under the brand…

A dissolving oral film form of riluzole, called Exservan and able to be taken by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients without a need for water, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Riluzole was the first ALS treatment, approved by the FDA over two decades…