News

With so much recent publicity surrounding gene therapy, it’s no surprise that the topic was a major focus of the recent 2019 NORD Rare Diseases & Orphan Products Breakthrough Summit. From diagnosis and clinical trial design to manufacturing, pricing strategies, and ethical concerns, gene therapy — both its high…

Despite skyrocketing healthcare costs, President Trump is committed to protecting the 30 million or so Americans with rare diseases and ensuring timely, affordable access to lifesaving treatments, the nation’s highest-ranking health official said. “We have to think about how our financing system can protect those with serious and rare illnesses.

I recently caught up with my friend, Estela Lugo, who is an inspiring professional and mom living in New York City as well as a thriver living with Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease. It’s almost impossible to believe when talking to her, but in…

Two new mutations causing Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1 (CMT1) were identified in the gene PMP2, and associated with variable clinical severity, including slow progression of disease and mild symptoms, according to a study. The study, “Peripheral myelin protein 2 – a novel…

Neuropathic pain — that due to damage in the nervous system — affects almost one-third of patients with Charcot-Marie-Tooth type 1 A (CMT1A) and is linked to greater disability and depression, a study from Serbia reports. The study “Neuropathic pain in patients with Charcot-Marie-Tooth type 1A” was published in…

Rare disease-themed videos glowed on a large screen before an audience of people in wheelchairs, with crutches, and bearing oxygen tanks this Nov. 9 and 10 in San Francisco. Disorder: The Rare Disease Film Festival strives to eventually host a film about every one of the nearly 7,000 rare…

Using CRISPR/Cas9 technology to reduce the expression of the gene PMP22 in nerve cells can improve nerve functioning and limit demyelination (damage to the protective covering that surrounds nerve fibers) in a mouse model of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease 1A (CMT1A), a new proof-of-concept study reports. The study, titled “…

Embelin, a small molecule, rescues hallmark features of Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease by stopping a mutant protein from entering the cell’s nucleus, a study in a fly model of the disease showed. Titled “Transcriptional dysregulation by a nucleus-localized aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase associated with Charcot-Marie-Tooth neuropathy,” the study was published…

A novel mutation in the gene PRPS1 was identified in the first case of X-linked Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 5 (CMTX5) in China. The finding was described in a case report published in the journal Neuropathology, titled “A novel mutation in PRPS1 gene causes X‐linked Charcot‐Marie‐Tooth disease‐5.”…

Researchers have successfully used adeno-associated virus-mediated gene therapy to treat mice that replicated a novel mutation found in a Charcot-Marie-Tooth Type 2D patient with severe disease. The study describing the scientists’ work, “Allele-specific RNA interference prevents neuropathy in Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 2D mouse models,” was published in the…