News

An abnormal accumulation of heparan sulfates — a hallmark of Sanfilippo syndrome type A — in the retina causes cell death and induces eye symptoms by impairing a process called autophagy, which cells use to clear out unwanted components, a study of mice has found. Notably, eye symptoms developed…

An ongoing clinical trial is investigating an approved anti-inflammatory compound anakinra, sold under the brand name Kineret, as a potential treatment for Sanfilippo syndrome. The Phase 2/3 pilot trial (NCT04018755) opened in May in the U.S. and has enrolled 20 children, ages 4 and older, all of whom will be…

The Alexion Charitable Foundation has awarded $1.1 million in grants to programs that support those with rare diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization recently announced. The grants will support activities that align with the foundation’s Rare Belonging focus, a set of funding priorities aimed at improving the…

Karen Aiach never imagined she’d one day start a drug company dedicated to curing a fatal genetic disease. But that was before 2005, when the French business consultant gave birth to a baby girl with Sanfilippo syndrome type A, also known as mucopolysaccharidosis type IIIA. Aiach, 48, is the…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a hold on Lysogene‘s trial of its gene therapy candidate LYS-SAF302 for Sanfilippo syndrome type A. LYS-SAF302 is a one-time treatment meant to deliver a healthy copy of the SGSH gene, which is defective in Sanfilippo…

The Black Women’s Health Imperative (BWHI) recently created a Rare Disease Diversity Coalition focused on reducing racial disparities in the rare disease community. Getting a timely and accurate diagnosis for a disease that few people — sometimes even physicians — have heard of is challenging on its own merit. But…

Seelos Therapeutics and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are continuing to discuss the use of Sanfilippo syndrome natural history data as a control for a pivotal U.S. study of the investigational SLS-005 (trehalose) treatment. The biopharmaceutical company also has submitted requests for…

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…

Cure Sanfilippo Foundation has granted $380,000 to the New York-based biotechnology company Phoenix Nest to support the development of the first-ever gene therapy to treat children with the rare genetic neurodegenerative disease Sanfilippo syndrome type C…

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…