News

A Phase 1/2 trial is recruiting adults in the U.S. who have late-onset Pompe disease to test a gene therapy, AT845, being developed by Audentes Therapeutics, according to an update from the Muscular Dystrophy Association. The company-sponsored FORTIS trial (NCT04174105) will be evaluating the safety…

Miglustat — a component of AT-GAA, an investigational therapy for late-onset Pompe disease (PD) — enhances the activity of the other component in AT-GAA, cipaglucosidase alfa, researchers report. These findings were presented at the 2021 MDA Virtual Clinical & Scientific Conference, in the poster “Enhancing Delivery…

At a recent webinar, experts cautioned that it could be dangerous for people with Pompe disease to stop treatment due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The disease that would come to be called COVID-19 was first reported in the U.S. more than a year ago. As it spread across…

Many diseases have their own awareness color — breast cancer is pink, muscular dystrophy is green, and AIDS is red, for example — but what’s the significance of pink, green, blue, and purple lights side-by-side? These are the colors most often used to represent Rare Disease Day. This…

In the first years of treatment, Myozyme (alglucosidase alfa) — marketed in the U.S. as Lumizyme — can effectively increase physical endurance, and improve lung function and muscle strength in adults with late-onset Pompe disease (LOPD), a real-world study found. Yet, despite this treatment, patients’ clinical outcomes, particularly lung…

Diagnosed with sickle cell disease as a 6-month-old, Tristan Lee has faced a lot of challenges over his 37 years of life. But from a young age, he also learned how to turn those trials into triumphs. At age 9, a stroke due to his disease left him paralyzed…

Early treatment with enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) and immune tolerance induction (ITI) greatly improved clinical outcomes for infants with the severe, frequently ERT-nonresponsive, CRIM-negative infantile Pompe disease (IPD), a study has found. “Our data suggest that the first few weeks after birth…

Rare Disease Day at NIH, organized by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and taking place on March 1, will feature panel discussions, patient stories, research updates, TED-style talks, and a presentation by a Nobel laureate recently recognized for her work on a gene editing tool. The free, virtual…

People with rare disorders have a worse healthcare experience than those affected by chronic diseases, according to the results of an international survey conducted by Eurordis-Rare Diseases Europe. Indeed, rare disease patients overall give their healthcare experience a medium-low rating, of 2.5 on a scale of 1 to 5,…

Treatment with AT-GAA, an investigational therapy for late-onset Pompe disease, led to improvements in measures of physical and lung function in the Phase 3 clinical trial PROPEL, top-line data show. “Data from the PROPEL study demonstrate the potential to further improve motor and respiratory functions in patients with Pompe…