Author Archives: Patricia Inacio PhD

Ahead of this year’s Rare Disease Week on Capitol Hill, held virtually July 14–22, the EveryLife Foundation will award grants to top advocates of rare disease organizations who participate in the week’s pre-events. The top 50 point-earners will be eligible to win $1,000 to $5,000 in grants, totaling…

More than half of the people with rare diseases and their caregivers, asked in a survey, were undecided or less than willing to be vaccinated for COVID-19 if a vaccine was approved under emergency use authorization instead of the routine process, the EveryLife Foundation for Rare Disease reports. These findings…

The EveryLife Foundation for Rare Diseases is accepting applications for a scholarship program that aims to help adults with a rare disease pursue personal goals through training and education. For a second year, the #RAREis Scholarship Fund — supported by Horizon Therapeutics – will award 35 one-time scholarships, each…

Long-term treatment with Fabrazyme (agalsidase beta), an enzyme replacement therapy for people with Fabry disease, slows the progression of kidney disease and significantly delays arriving at outcomes that include heart or kidney failure, results from clinical and real-world studies show. Findings from this work — a Phase 4 clinical trial…

A first patient has been treated with PRX-102 (pegunigalsidase alfa), an investigational enzyme replacement therapy for Fabry disease that is under review for approval, through an expanded access program (EAP) in the United States. “The initiation of treatment in the first patient enrolled in our EAP is an important milestone for the Fabry…

Pain, negative health perceptions, and certain coping styles for dealing with daily stressors are all linked to a greater incidence of depression among people with Fabry disease, according to a recent study. The study, “Depressive symptoms in Fabry disease: the importance of coping, subjective health perception and pain,”…

The number of treatments for children with rare diseases has grown over the past decade, according to a new study. However, despite the increase, nearly 7,000 rare diseases are still lacking treatment. And federal incentives to boost treatment development for these rare diseases have primarily focused not on creating new…

PRX-102 (pegunigalsidase alfa), an investigational enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) for Fabry disease, is closer to accelerated approval after a successful pre-biologics license application (BLA) meeting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), according to a press release. PRX-102’s developers, Protalix BioTherapeutics and Chiesi Farmaceutici, met with…

A novel gene therapy developed by 4D Molecular Therapeutics can increase gene delivery to the heart without triggering an immune response, according to preclinical data. The gene therapy candidate is anticipated to enter human clinical trials in 2020. The findings were presented in a scientific poster, “A Novel…

A single injection with candidate gene therapy FLT190 showed positive results in a mouse model of Fabry disease by significantly increasing blood levels of GLA — the enzyme affected in this disease — and reducing Gb3 storage levels in the heart and kidney, the therapy’s developer, Freeline,…