News

Amicus Therapeutics remains on track to announce top-line data from PROPEL — a Phase 3 trial of AT-GAA for the treatment of late-onset Pompe disease — in the first half of 2021, and plans to seek regulatory clearance to start clinical studies of a gene therapy for…

The EveryLife Foundation for Rare Diseases has launched a scholarship fund in the U.S. to support individuals with rare disorders who are pursuing personal goals through training and education. The initial phase of the five-year, $1-million #RAREis Scholarship Fund will include 32 scholarships — each totaling $5,000 —…

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced the postponement of a rare disease film festival originally slated for May, its organizers set out to find a new way to bring the films to an audience.  Co-founders Daniel DeFabio and Bo Bigelow, who are both fathers of children with…

Combining exercise training with a high-protein diet improves exercise tolerance, pulmonary function, and quality of life among late-onset Pompe disease (LOPD) patients taking Lumizyme (alglucosidase alfa) for years, a small study found. The study, “Exercise training alone or in combination with high-protein diet in patients…

Treatment with Myozyme (alglucosidase alfa, marketed as Lumizyme in the U.S.) improves walking ability and may stabilize respiratory function in adults with Pompe disease during the first three years of treatment, according to a recent study. However, factors such as aging may explain the loss of benefits observed at later stages. The…

Transplanting blood stem cells modified to carry the GAA gene raised glycogen levels almost to normal across a range of organs, including the brain, and improved locomotion in a mouse model of Pompe disease, a study reported. These findings suggest that blood stem cell gene therapy, in which a patient’s…