Author Archives: Patricia Inacio PhD

CAMP4 Therapeutics has entered an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement to develop, manufacture, and commercialize OPKO Health’s RNA-based technology as potential disease-modifying treatments for Dravet syndrome. As part of the deal, CAMP4 has prioritized OPKO’s lead candidate for Dravet to enter clinical development. “We are delighted to enter into…

The Dravet Syndrome Foundation (DSF) is accepting applications for its Patient Assistance Grants (PAG) program that provides financial aid to people with Dravet syndrome who need medical equipment, therapy devices and educational tools. Since 2009, the PAG program runs from March 1 to Dec. 1 or until the funds…

Ahead of this year’s Rare Disease Week on Capitol Hill, held virtually July 14–22, the EveryLife Foundation will award grants to top advocates of rare disease organizations who participate in the week’s pre-events. The top 50 point-earners will be eligible to win $1,000 to $5,000in  grants, totaling up…

More than half of the people with rare diseases and their caregivers, asked in a survey, were undecided or less than willing to be vaccinated for COVID-19 if a vaccine was approved under emergency use authorization instead of the routine process, the EveryLife Foundation for Rare Disease reports. These findings…

The EveryLife Foundation for Rare Diseases is accepting applications for a scholarship program that aims to help adults with a rare disease pursue personal goals through training and education. For a second year, the #RAREis Scholarship Fund — supported by Horizon Therapeutics – will award 35 one-time scholarships, each…

Takeda Pharmaceuticals has acquired the global rights to develop and market the investigational oral therapy soticlestat (OV935/TAK-935) for developmental and epileptic encephalopathies, including Dravet syndrome, the company has announced. Soticlestat was originally developed by Takeda and Ovid Therapeutics, after the companies entered into a collaboration in 2017.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has expanded the age range for all Epidiolex (cannabidiol) indications to include patients ages 1 and older, according to its developer, GW Pharmaceuticals (GW). The therapy previously had been approved in the U.S. and in Europe for the treatment of seizures associated…

Encoded Therapeutics has raised $135 million to support the first human clinical trials for ETX101, its gene therapy for SCN1A-positive Dravet syndrome patients. The funding also will be used for a natural history study to better understand the progression of the disease in people carrying SCN1A mutations, which are…

Epidiolex (cannabidiol), as an add on-therapy administered at either a low or high dose, leads to similar clinically relevant reductions in the frequency of convulsive seizures in children with treatment-resistant Dravet syndrome, Importantly, a lower Epidiolex dose shows a better safety and tolerability profile when compared to the higher dose.

The number of treatments for children with rare diseases has grown over the past decade, according to a new study. However, despite the increase, nearly 7,000 rare diseases are still lacking treatment. And federal incentives to boost treatment development for these rare diseases have primarily focused not on creating new…