RARECast

As CEO of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Stanley Crooke has been a pioneer in the development of antisense drugs and oversees one of the industry’s largest and most advanced pipelines. Antisense drugs are compelling for rare diseases because of their ability to selectively target specific RNA sequences. These drugs, such as the company’s treatment for spinal muscular atrophy, Spinraza, are transforming th...

It was about ten months ago that Orchard Therapeutics acquired the gene therapy portfolio of GSK, expanding its pipeline and giving it its first approved therapy. We spoke to Orchard CEO Mark Rothera about his company’s approach to gene therapy, its pipeline, and what he sees as the biggest challenges as Orchard moves towards commercializing its therapies.

Harsha Rajasimha was a post-doctoral researcher at the National Institutes of Health when he lost a newborn child to a rare disease. As he entered the world of patient advocacy, he connected with rare disease patients in his homeland of India. Discussions he had there led him to co-found the Organization for Rare Diseases India and the Organization for Rare Diseases India, USA; an effort to bridge...

The regenerative medicine sector won major product approvals, advanced a growing pipeline of therapies in development, and enjoyed a surge of investment in 2018. As excitement grows about the potential of these therapies, the industry is also wrestling with complex policy issues that could determine how sustainable these businesses will be and whether patients will ever get to benefit from the pot...

The microbiome, the community of bacteria that live within and on our bodies, has become an area of increasing interest to drug developers, who see the potential to both target these microorganisms and exploit them for therapeutic benefit. Scioto Biosciences has developed a biofilm platform that it believes can better deliver and protect beneficial bacteria to treat disease. The lead indication th...

Tiburio Therapeutics emerged from the orphan drug accelerator Cydan at the start of 2019. The company is developing two clinical stage compounds for rare endocrine disorders that it licensed from Ipsen. We spoke to Tiburio Therapeutics CEO Abraham Ceesay, about rare endocrine disorders, the company’s pipeline, and the case for Cydan’s business model.

Aspa Therapeutics is a subsidiary of Bridge Bio that was created to develop a gene therapy to treat Canavan disease, a progressive and fatal neurological disorder for which there is no approved therapy. Canavan is caused by a genetic mutation that results in an enzyme deficiency. We spoke to Eric David, CEO of Aspa, about the condition, the company’s experimental gene therapy, and the benefits of...

Patient-led collaborations are transforming drug discovery and development in rare disease. How they are doing this will be the topic of a panel discussion at the 2019 Biotech Showcase in San Francisco January 8 at 4:30 p.m. Ahead of that panel, we spoke to Walt Kowtoniuk, principal at Third Rock Ventures and moderator of the panel to discuss the challenges of rare disease drug discovery and devel...

Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Sobi’s Gamifant to treat HLH, an ultra-rare condition characterized by hyperinflammation with high morbidity and mortality. The approval strengthens Sobi’s immunology franchise in the United States. We spoke to Rami Levin, president of Sobi North America, and Carol Satler, vice president of medical affairs for Sobi, about HLH, the signific...

Collaboration is critical to addressing problems faced by the rare disease community, but too often collaborations between advocacy organizations turn sour because of miscommunication, a lack of trust between partners, or when unnecessary competition trumps cooperation. A group of rare disease advocacy organizations, including Global Genes, earlier this year launched the THRIVE initiative (https:/...

Prader-Willi syndrome is a rare genetic disease with many effects, but it is characterized by an insatiable drive to eat that leads to overeating and obesity. Soleno Therapeutics is in late-stage clinical testing of a treatment for the intense hunger and overeating in patients with Prader-Willi. We spoke to Anish Bhatnagar, CEO of Soleno, about its experimental therapy, how it works, and why it ma...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently granted gene therapy developer RegenxBio Orphan Drug designation for its experimental gene therapy to treat CLN2 disease, a form of Batten disease, a rare and deadly condition that progressively robs children of their abilities until they die. The gene therapy is one of 12 clinical programs and 20 partnered programs RegenxBio is advancing. We spoke to...

LBSL, a rare genetic disorder that affects the brain and spinal cord, was first identified in 2004. While there are no treatments available today, researchers are working to understand the condition and develop therapies. One ongoing study at Kennedy Krieger Institute is using digital health technologies to remotely test people with the condition and provide a roadmap towards a therapy. We spoke t...

Many rare disease organizations are resource constrained and depend on the kindness of volunteers to provide specialized services and capabilities that they may not have in-house. Sean Gordon, a high-tech sales and marketing specialist, discovered the need after he was diagnosed late in life with a rare disease. His solution has been to create the Rare Funding Team, a free service that matches rar...

When the Hereditary Neuropathy Foundation set up a patient focused drug development meeting with the FDA, it knew that patients with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease face difficulty providing written comments because of the impact of the disease on their ability to write or type. Working with a technology company, the organization was able to gather patient feedback using voice technology that allowed...

When Jon Miller’s son was born doctors failed to diagnose a rare and deadly medical condition despite using newborn screening that was supposed to detect it. Doctors told him his infant was going to die. His son was diagnosed correctly in time as having tyrosinemia, a genetic disorder characterized by elevated blood levels of the amino acid tyrosine, the result of an enzyme deficiency. The experie...

Sickle cell disease is a rare, genetic condition that causes red blood cells to become misshapen and damaged. The condition activates immune cells and blocks blood flow in capillaries, causing injury to many organs and pain daily. Imara is developing an experimental therapy that can prevent the sickling of the red blood cells and also reduce the adhesion of white blood cells to reduce blockage of...

When Sean Baumstark was 25, he was diagnosed with Friedreich’s ataxia, a rare, debilitating and life-shortening disease. His doctor advised him to avoid activities where balance was critical, such as biking, hiking, or running. He told Baumstark he should move to a home without stairs and install handrails. A month later Baumstark bought a bike and set off on a 650-mile trek from his home in Sacra...

Despite accelerated pathways for the development and approval of rare disease therapies, significant challenges remain for companies wishing to bring new treatments to market. Mallory Factor, CEO of IntraBio, recently testified at a U.S. Senate Subcommittee hearing and argued that the programs in place today fail to address the needs companies like his have for timely and early interactions with t...

Two attorneys specializing in regulatory law recently proposed the creation of an FDA Rare Disease Center of Excellence to better allow the agency to address the challenges of advancing and reviewing rare disease products. The proposal, advanced by Hyman, Phelps & McNamara’s Director Frank Sasinowski and Associate James Valentine, also calls for the creation of deputy directors of rare disease at...

This summer, elite runner Dave Proctor set out on a 4,500-mile run across Canada to break a Guinness World Record and raise $1 million to support the Rare Disease Foundation. Proctor’s son Sam has an ultra-rare neurological condition. Though an injury cut Proctor’s run short, it did ignite the imagination of the public and catch the attention of legislators. We spoke to Proctor about the run, the...

Collaborations play a critical role in advancing potential treatments for a rare disease and can take many forms. In some cases, they may involve a single researcher engaging with a single patient, while more complex ones may be multi-organizational alliances that include drug developers, academic institutions, and patient advocacy organizations. We spoke to Hans Schlecht, a physician who has cond...

Seeking treatment for a rare disease can be complicated by the poor understanding clinicians may have of a given condition and variations in the way they diagnose, treat, and monitor a specific disease. One way to ensure patients receive the best care is through the implementation of clinical standards. We spoke to Kathi Kinnett, vice president of clinical care for Parent Project Muscular Dystroph...

A few years ago, Kavi Gandhi’s parents told him that they had become overwhelmed with the demands of running the foundation they had started to fund research for I-Cell disease, a condition that his older brother Yash died from at the age of 9. Kavi told his parents he didn’t want them to close the foundation and offered to take on some of the responsibilities of running it. Since them he has beco...

People with rare and chronic conditions often become so focused on the treatment of their physical ailments that the psychological and emotional aspects of their diseases can be neglected. Allison Fine, a clinical social worker, founded the Center for Chronic Illness in Seattle to provide professionally-led support groups to people with ongoing health challenges. We spoke to Fine about her work, t...