News

Tilray Canada has launched its newest product, Tilray 2:100, a formulation of therapeutic cannabis oil containing a high concentration of cannabidiol (CBD), which may help treat Canadian patients with conditions like Dravet syndrome. “We are excited to offer this highly concentrated CBD product to patients in Canada. We…

Finding treatments and potential cures for rare diseases is crucial, but so is the quality of patients’ lives — a rather nebulous term that means different things to different people. “Recently, there’s been much more of a focus on Quality of Life (QoL) issues, real-world evidence and patient-reported outcomes,” said…

Stiripentol is not a cost-effective treatment for Canadian Dravet syndrome patients, and decision-makers should consider funding it, according to a recent cost analysis. The study, “Economic Evaluation of Stiripentol for Dravet Syndrome: A Cost-Utility Analysis,” was published in PharmacoEconomics. Combination therapy, or the use…

Researchers have identified two significant factors that can help predict cognitive outcomes in Dravet syndrome patients: Longer  treatment with antiepileptics that block sodium channels, and being younger when the first afebrile seizure occurs. The study “Influence of contraindicated…

New insights into what causes small brain vessels to leak and promotes blood-brain barrier dysfunction in people with epilepsy were revealed in a recent mouse study. Findings were published in the study, “Matrix Metalloproteinase-Mediated Blood-Brain Barrier Dysfunction in Epilepsy,” in the Journal of Neuroscience.

The National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) will celebrate the 35th anniversary of both the 1983 Orphan Drug Act and NORD’s founding at a dinner tonight in Washington, D.C. The 2018 Rare Impact Awards, to be held at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, will be webcast via Facebook for those…

The European Union isn’t doing enough to protect the 30 million or so people with rare diseases who live in its 28 member countries, officials meeting last week in Vienna said. More than 900 people from 58 nations attended the 9th European Conference on Rare Diseases & Orphan Drugs (ECRD),…

A combination of high body temperature, seizures, and SCN1A mutations can cause the rapid accumulation of fluid in the brain and cardiac arrest, potentially leading to sudden death in Dravet syndrome patients, according to a case report. The study, “Can…

Children with Dravet syndrome are at risk of coma after prolonged epileptic seizures, especially when associated with high fever, according to a large Chinese retrospective study. The study, “The clinical outcome and neuroimaging of acute encephalopathy after status epilepticus in Dravet syndrome,” was published in the journal…

An approved cancer medication was able to reduce average daily seizures by 60 percent in zebrafish and mice with epilepsy. That finding was in an article, “A novel metabolism-based phenotypic drug discovery platform in zebrafish uncovers HDACs 1 and 3 as a potential combined anti-seizure drug target,” that was…