News

While the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic won’t have much of an impact on cash available for new biotech startups, it has begun to cause delays in the development of gene therapies to treat a variety of rare diseases. That’s the consensus of industry experts who spoke in a May 26 webinar…

Central adrenal insufficiency, a deficiency in cortisol levels due to problems in the pituitary or hypothalamus, is rare in people with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS), affecting 1.2% of patients, a study shows. Researchers, therefore, do not recommend routinely prescribing medications for central adrenal insufficiency to PWS patients — as…

European authorities must step up efforts to screen babies for a multitude of genetic disorders, a panel of experts suggested during a May 14-15 online medical conference. The session was part of the 10th European Conference on Rare Diseases & Orphan Products (ECRD2020) — which was to have occurred…

Dara Riva always had a rule that her 10-year-old son could play video games only once a week. But then the COVID-19 pandemic struck, and her perspective changed. Riva’s son, Maximilian, has cystic fibrosis (CF), making him particularly susceptible to COVID-19 and the complications that can arise from it.

Eurordis, a Paris-based coalition of national rare disease associations across Europe, hosted its first all-virtual conference, bringing some 1,500 delegates from 57 countries together online during the COVID-19 pandemic. The 10th European Conference on Rare Diseases & Orphan Products (ECRD2020) — which was set for May 14–15 in…

An online survey of ways to best promote a healthier lifestyle among people with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is being conducted by the University of Cambridge with support from the International Prader-Willi Syndrome Organisation…

The Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network (RDCRN) has opened an online survey to better understand how the COVID-19 outbreak is affecting people with rare diseases, their families, and caregivers. Survey questions cover a patient’s physical and mental health, supply of treatments, and access to healthcare, among other…

The Foundation for Prader-Willi Research (FPWR) is funding nine projects that intend to improve understanding and help find treatments, including gene therapies, for Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS). In total, FPWR awarded a total of $912,251 in the first round of this year’s research awards, according to a press release.

This May, the Foundation for Prader-Willi Research (FPWR) is mobilizing people around the world affected by Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) to raise awareness about the disease and host fundraising activities to advance disease research. This year’s PWS Awareness Month came to be thanks to the efforts of Republican…

FFF Enterprises and Bionews announced today that both rare and orphan disease advocates are joining forces to provide patients with resources to help them connect as a community and continue to manage their health during this time when many are finding themselves alone. Recognized as the nation’s leading supplier of…