Research

Adding a preventive short-course immunomodulatory regimen — rituximab, methotrexate, and intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIG) — to enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) safely provides long-term protection from antibodies that can block ERT’s effectiveness in children with classic infantile Pompe disease, a study found. These findings highlight that the benefits…

Children receiving enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) for Pompe disease often experience immune reactions to treatment, presenting as rashes or severe allergy, sometimes after several successful infusions, a case series shows. While these hypersensitivity reactions can be avoided successfully with anti-allergy medications and longer infusion times in some patients, others…

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…

Raremark, an online rare disease patient community, has launched a digital platform called Xperiome, aimed at streamlining the search for new medicines for rare disorders and incorporating more patient input into research. The goal is to help the pharmaceutical industry deliver innovative new therapies faster and smarter, the…

Spirometry is a common medical test that you can take at your local hospital or clinic to evaluate how well your lungs are working. In late-onset Pompe disease, doctors can use spirometry to track disease progression. What is late-onset Pompe disease? Pompe disease is a rare,…

Clinical trials can help researchers develop new treatments for disorders such as Pompe disease, which currently has no cure and few options for treating symptoms. Through these trials, scientists gather evidence to support the potential regulatory approval of new and better therapies that may improve the quality of…

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…

The Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) held its first externally led Patient-Focused Drug Development (PFDD) meeting on Pompe disease earlier this week.  The July 13 virtual PFDD meeting allowed Pompe patients and…

The EveryLife Foundation for Rare Diseases has launched a nationwide National Burden of Rare Disease Survey to measure the full implications, economic and social, of living with rare disease in the United States. People with rare diseases know that the impacts of such conditions extend beyond just medical…