News

Pentosan polysulfate sodium, an approved medication commonly used to treat bladder pain, will now be repurposed to potentially treat mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) under the terms of two new licensing agreements. The oral therapy is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and marketed under the brand names Elmiron and Thrombocid, among others.

Spinal cord decompression — a type of spinal surgery — should be done on mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) patients who have lesions in their spine to prevent or reverse neurological issues, a study shows. The study, “Clinical Manifestations and Surgical Management of Spinal Lesions in Patients With Mucopolysaccharidosis:…

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…

Abeona Therapeutics is planning to expand its ongoing ABO-102 gene therapy Phase 1/2 trial to include patients with Sanfilippo syndrome type A (MPS IIIA) at earlier stages of the disease. “The encouraging data generated to date and our interactions with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European…

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…

They had a son they adored, and now Cara and Glenn O’Neill longed for a girl. After a couple of miscarriages, they were overjoyed at the birth of Eliza. But 3 1/2 years later, their daughter was diagnosed with Sanfilippo syndrome. After establishing a foundation and raising more than…