The first patient has been dosed in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial evaluating the safety and effects of ACTUS-101, a potential one-time gene therapy for late-onset Pompe disease developed by Actus Therapeutics. The randomized, open-label trial (NCT03533673) is still recruiting for an estimated total of six participants.
treatment
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration(FDA) is updating its 2015 draft guidelines for drug discovery in rare diseases, with new guidance on natural history— how disorders such as spinal muscle atrophy(SMA) run their course if untreated — the choice of “efficacy endpoints” in clinical trials, and how…
On a Friday the 13th some 20 years ago, 15-month-old Megan Crowley was diagnosed with Pompe disease. A few weeks later, so was her newborn brother, Patrick. Even the doctor who diagnosed the two children didn’t know much about the disease. Before that March day in 1998, he had…
Patients with late-onset Pompe disease demonstrated a deterioration in voice quality over a period of three years, but early treatment may stop this progressive impairment, a study reports. The study, “Follow-up analysis of voice quality in patients with late-onset Pompe disease,” was published in the Orphanet Journal…
Amicus Therapeutics has dosed the first patient in the Phase 3 PROPEL clinical trial that aims to compare investigational therapy AT-GAA (ATB200/AT221) to standard treatment in patients with late-onset Pompe disease. The trial (NCT03729362) is still recruiting patients. Throughout 2019, approximately 100 participants who have been previously…
Cash-strapped governments across the 28-member European Union are struggling to control runaway healthcare expenditures — at exactly the same time as the promise of new but expensive therapies to treat rare diseases has never been greater. That’s the paradox faced by pharmaceutical companies as well as patient advocacy groups in…
A research team in Korea has developed a new method using rice to produce lab-made human acid alpha-glucosidase (GAA) for the treatment of Pompe disease. Their findings were published in the study, “N-glycan Remodeling Using Mannosidase Inhibitors to Increase High-mannose Glycans on Acid α-Glucosidase in Transgenic Rice…
Frequent inspiratory muscle training — a set of breathing exercises to strengthen the respiratory muscles making it easier to breathe — enhanced the breathing capacity of late-onset Pompe disease patients with insufficient respiratory function, a small pilot study has found. The study, “Safety and efficacy of short- and long-term…
Long-term interruption of enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) can lead to negative outcomes for late-onset Pompe disease patients, affecting their lung and exercise capacity as well as quality of life, a Swiss retrospective study shows. However, for most patients, resuming ERT can help restore the key clinical parameters that deteriorated during the pause…
Half a year has gone by since disgraced pharma executive Martin Shkreli was sentenced to seven years in federal prison for securities and wire fraud while heading San Diego-based Retrophin. As founder and CEO of another company (then known as Turing Pharmaceuticals), in late 2015 Shkreli bought the rights…
Recent Posts
- 5 years strong: Combo LOPD therapy preserves walking and lung function
- You’re not failing if you can’t remember every detail about your child
- Muscle damage begins before visible changes appear in LOPD
- Nighttime breathing issues can emerge even with early Pompe care
- When a medical trip feels like a vacation to a child with rare disease