News

Chinese patients with late-onset Pompe disease develop symptoms and are diagnosed at least 10 years earlier than patients from other areas of the world, a Pompe disease registry shows. The study, “Characteristics of Pompe disease in China: a report from the Pompe registry” was published in the journal…

New genetic mutations and uncommon clinical symptoms, including skeletal alterations and developmental delay, were linked to juvenile-onset Pompe disease in three rare cases, making early recognition of these anomolies an important step to providing the best care for these patients, a study says. The cases were described by researchers from…

Muscle repair in Pompe disease is compromised by failed activation of muscle cells’ precursors called satellite cells (SCs), according to a study of mice. The study, “Satellite cells fail to contribute to muscle repair but are functional in Pompe disease (glycogenosis type II),” was published in…

Amicus Therapeutics received two U.S. patents for ATB200, a unique recombinant (lab-made) human acid alpha-glucosidase (rhGAA) enzyme, and the biologic component of the company’s investigational Pompe disease therapy AT-GAA. One patent covers the composition of matter for rhGAA; the second, the methods for making ATB200. The patents expire in 2035…

Measuring the blood levels of the platelet-derived growth factor BB (PDGF-BB) allows researchers to differentiate between patients with adult-onset Pompe disease and those without the disease, and between patients with and without symptoms, a study reports. These findings suggest that monitoring PDGF-BB could help track disease progression and determine…

Madeline Collin, a 24-year-old activist with Gaucher disease, worries that patients like her will suffer deeply if Britain leaves the European Union (EU), as scheduled, at the end of this month. Collin is an expert on the subject. For her University of Bathdissertation, she analyzed Brexit’s long-term impact…

Rare childhood disorders, including Pompe disease, pose a significant estimated impact on the quality of life of affected children and their parents, a study reports. The study, “Health utilities and parental quality of life effects for three rare conditions tested in newborns,” was published in the Journal of…

With each new advance in medicine comes ethical dilemmas, from fertility treatments and newborn screening, to vaccinations, gene therapies and euthanasia. But rare diseases and the expensive therapies needed to treat them — particularly in an age of scarce economic resources — almost always entail “tragic choices,” warned Avraham Steinberg,…

Rare diseases affect about 30 million Americans — roughly the same number as those with type 2 diabetes. Yet only 5 percent of the estimated 7,000 rare diseases known to science have cures or treatments approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Raising awareness of those illnesses and highlighting…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation (BTD) to Amicus Therapeutics’ lead therapy candidate for the treatment of late-onset Pompe disease,  AT-GAA (ATB200/AT221). The FDA’s decision makes AT-GAA the first investigational therapy for Pompe disease to receive this regulatory status. It also further…