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Orphan Drugs Are Good! BioMarin & Illumina

  Courtesy of Pharmboy A rare disease , sometimes known as an orphan disease , is any disease that is not common. Typically, a rare disease has such a low prevalence in a population that a physician in a busy general practice would not expect to see more than one case a year. Most rare diseases are genetic–present throughout the person’s entire life, even if symptoms do not appear immediately. However, many rare diseases appear early in life, and about 30% of children with rare diseases die before reaching their fifth birthdays . No single cutoff number has been agreed upon for which a disease is considered rare. A disease may be considered rare in one part of the world, or in a particular group of people, but still be common in another. In the United States of America , the Rare Disease Act of 2002 defines rare disease strictly according to prevalence, as any disease or condition that affects less than 200,000 persons in the United States, or about 1 in 1,500 people . BioMarin’s ( BMRN ) core business and research is in enzyme replacement therapies for orphan diseases . They are the first company to provide therapeutics for mucopolysaccharidosis type I (MPS I), by manufacturing Aldurazyme (commercialized by Genzyme Corporation). BioMarin is also the first company to provide therapeutics for Phenylketonuria (PKU) As of 2005, BioMarin commercialized arylsulfatase B ( Naglazyme ) as an enzyme replacement therapy for the treatment of mucopolysaccharidosis VI (MPS VI), and in 2007 a drug version of tetrahydrobiopterin ( Kuvan ), the first medication-based intervention to treat phenylketonuria . On 11/30/09, BioMarin announced that the FDA has granted orphan drug designation for 3 ,4 -diaminopyridine (3,4-DAP), amifampridine phosphate, for the rare autoimmune disease Lambert Eaton Myasthenic Syndrome (LEMS). 3 ,4 -DAP has previously received orphan drug designation in the E.U. Also, in October 2009, the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use of the European Medicines Evaluations Agency adopted a positive opinion recommending approval of amifampridine phosphate for LEMS. If approved by the European Commission, amifampridine phosphate will be the first approved treatment for LEMS, thereby conferring orphan drug protection and providing ten years of market exclusivity in Europe. BMRN expects to meet with the FDA in early 2010 to determine the necessary regulatory path for amifampridine phosphate in the U.S. and is also preparing to launch the product in Europe during 1Q10.   (Interestingly, Acorda Therapeutics has 4-aminopyridine ( Ampyra ) which was approved for MS .  The only difference is an amino group, but the targets for each drug are almost identical.) Currently, BioMarin has an exciting range of breakthrough drug candidates.  In clinical development, it has PEG-PAL ( PEGylated recombinant phenylalanine ammonia lysase )…
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