News

Scoliosis — an abnormal sideways curvature of the spine — has a high prevalence among people with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS), and becomes increasingly more common with older age, a study highlights. In fact, more than 80% of the PWS patients in the study, who were followed for more than…

The European Commission is expected to propose a new governing framework for health data next month, called the European Health Data Space (EHDS), with the aim of connecting national health systems to facilitate secure and efficient transfer of data across systems in different European nations. The move is expected to…

Starting treatment with growth hormone early in life — before age 2 — was associated with better cognitive and behavioral outcomes for children with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) in a recent study out of Spain. “We found greater cognitive and adaptive performance in patients who had received early treatment,” its…

The National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) has updated its State Report Card to make it more digitally friendly and added telehealth to its categories of rare disease policy issues in a nod to its increased use during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. NORD’s report card project began seven…

Saniona will pause the Phase 2b clinical trials testing Tesomet for people with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) and hypothalamic obesity (HO). The decision “is not related to the safety or efficacy of Tesomet and is entirely due to funding limitations,” the company stated in a press release. The…

Impaired social responsiveness, an indicator of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is prevalent among adults with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS), and is associated with worse social functioning, according to a recent study. “Our results suggest that evaluating difficulties in social skills is fundamental for the global assessment of functionality,” the researchers…

Healthcare providers involved in diagnosing and treating rare diseases believe that increased physician education and collaboration with specialized facilities will have the greatest positive impact on treating these conditions over the next five years, according to results from a 2021 survey. Definitive Healthcare, a healthcare commercial intelligence company, conducted…

People with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) who had COVID-19 experienced either no symptoms or only mild illness due to the infection, an international survey study found. These findings were unexpected, as researchers had put forward the hypothesis that the presence of other conditions typically coexisting with PWS would make symptoms…

Children, adolescents, and adults with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) have distinct craniofacial patterns relative to healthy individuals, according to a study in Norway. These patterns also changed with age, with children showing a more receding chin, and adults exhibiting a prognathic, or forward-projecting lower jaw, along with abnormal tooth angles. Findings from…

Patient registries are a hot topic of rare disease research and many organizations are taking advantage of this resource by signing up their patient communities and connecting with researchers. Eric Sid, MD, program officer for the Office of Rare Diseases Research (ORDR), said it is difficult to estimate how…