People with type 1 Gaucher disease have higher blood levels of two pro-inflammatory proteins than do healthy individuals, a small study suggested. The proteins may be biomarkers to help monitor the condition, as well as possible targets for treatment development, its investigators said.
The Black Women’s Health Imperative (BWHI) recently created a Rare Disease Diversity Coalition focused on reducing racial disparities in the rare disease community. Getting a timely and accurate diagnosis for a disease that few people — sometimes even physicians — have heard of is challenging on its own merit.
After two years of Cerdelga (eliglustat) therapy, patients with Gaucher disease (GD) type 1 maintained or improved their spleen or liver health, and their red blood cell and platelet counts, according to a new study of real-world data.
Although standard therapies for Gaucher disease (GD) usually reduce liver damage, some forms of treatment — particularly enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) — seem to be linked to a higher incidence of fatty liver disease, a study found. The findings highlight the importance of constantly monitoring liver health…
While the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic won’t have much of an impact on cash available for new biotech startups, it has begun to cause delays in the development of gene therapies to treat a variety of rare diseases. That’s the consensus of industry experts who spoke in a May 26 webinar…
European authorities must step up efforts to screen babies for a multitude of genetic disorders, a panel of experts suggested during a May 14-15 online medical conference. The session was part of the 10th European Conference on Rare Diseases & Orphan Products (ECRD2020) — which was to have occurred…
Dara Riva always had a rule that her 10-year-old son could play video games only once a week. But then the COVID-19 pandemic struck, and her perspective changed. Riva’s son, Maximilian, has cystic fibrosis (CF), making him particularly susceptible to COVID-19 and the complications that can arise from it.
Eurordis, a Paris-based coalition of national rare disease associations across Europe, hosted its first all-virtual conference, bringing some 1,500 delegates from 57 countries together online during the COVID-19 pandemic. The 10th European Conference on Rare Diseases & Orphan Products (ECRD2020) — which was set for May 14–15 in…
Components of the RANK pathway — a biological pathway that acts as a bridge between the immune and skeletal systems — may be used as markers of bone disease progression in patients with Gaucher disease, a study says. The study, “Effect of Substrate Reduction…
The Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network (RDCRN) has opened an online survey to better understand how the COVID-19 outbreak is affecting people with rare diseases, their families, and caregivers. Survey questions cover a patient’s physical and mental health, supply of treatments, and access to healthcare, among other…
