News

First, the bad news: If you’re one of the 30 million or so Americans with a rare disease, you probably have lower immunity to the novel coronavirus than most people. Now, the good news: You already know how to face loneliness and adversity — qualities that make you far stronger…

The Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) is hosting an online Q&A session today to discuss the best ways that people with neuromuscular diseases might protect themselves during the COVID-19 pandemic. The 30-minute session can be accessed on the MDA’s Facebook page, and starts at 6 p.m. EST. People with…

Clinical trial data suggest that edasalonexent — a potential Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) therapy — does not affect the immune system’s ability to work as it should, making it unlikely to raise a person’s COVID-19 risk, Catabasis Pharmaceuticals said. COVID-19 is believed to pose the greatest threat to older people and those…

Final results of a Phase 1 clinical trial support the safety of losmapimod and suggest its effectiveness as a treatment for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD). The data, “Phase 1 Clinical Trial of Losmapimod in Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy (FSHD): Safety, Tolerability and Target Engagement,” were presented by Michelle…

The Living Rare, Living Stronger Patient and Family Forum, originally set for May 14–16 in Cleveland, Ohio, has been postponed until July 18–20 because of the coronavirus disease COVID-19 pandemic. The event’s sponsor, the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD),…

Sarepta Therapeutics has taken steps to ensure the supply of Vyondys 53 (golodirsen) and Exondys 51 (eteplirsen), both approved for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), during the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, the company continues to work with regulatory authorities to guarantee the continuation…

The supply of Emflaza (deflazacort), a treatment for people with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), will not be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to PTC Therapeutics, its developer. In a statement addressed to patients and health care professionals, released March 16, PTC said it…

Even with the coronavirus pandemic ravaging Europe and much of the world, patient advocate Lucia Monaco, PhD, of Italy remains confident that the Paris-based nonprofit she chairs will see the approval of 1,000 new rare disease therapies by 2027. That group, the International Rare Diseases Research Consortium (IRDiRC) —…

NS Pharma launched an expanded access program (EAP) in the U.S. to allow certain Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients to gain access to its investigational exon-skipping therapy viltolarsen. The program will allow physicians to prescribe viltolarsen to U.S. DMD patients amenable to exon 53 skipping who meet other eligibility criteria, at…

Machine learning could be used to help diagnose specific forms of muscular dystrophy (MD) using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, a study suggests. The study, “Accuracy of a machine learning muscle MRI-based tool for the diagnosis of muscular dystrophies,” was published in the journal…