News

The first wave of COVID-19 in Europe severely disrupted access to care and raised stress and anxiety in people with rare diseases, negatively affecting their health and well-being, according to a survey conducted by Eurordis-Rare Diseases Europe. “People living with rare diseases in Europe have found themselves caught as collateral…

Proteins involved in scarring and the escape of immune cells from blood vessels towards nearby tissues are found at high levels in people with diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (dcSSc), a new study reports. The findings also revealed that greater levels of specific proteins correlated with more severe thickening of…

The molecule lysyl oxidase (LOX) plays key roles in promoting skin and lung scarring in scleroderma and may serve as a potential biomarker and therapeutic target for the disease, a study suggests.  The study, “Lysyl Oxidase…

Leaders in the U.S. rare disease community came together recently for a webinar to present helpful information on how to start a nonprofit and patient registry. They shared about how their respective organizations came to be, as well as the benefits of creating patient registries and how they can help…

Updated results from the RESOLVE-1 Phase 3 clinical trial show that treatment with lenabasum reduces lung function decline in adults with diffuse cutaneous scleroderma (dcSSc) who are on long-term immunosuppressant therapy. “We are encouraged by the post-hoc [subsequent] analyses pointing to lenabasum’s therapeutic potential,” Yuval Cohen, PhD, CEO of…

Long-term treatment with Ofev (nintedanib) safely and effectively slows lung function decline in adults with interstitial lung disease (ILD) associated with systemic sclerosis (SSc-ILD), according to an early analysis of the SENSCIS-ON extension study. Notably, patients treated with Ofev in both the Phase 3 SENSCIS trial (NCT02597933)…

Ofev (nintedanib) slows clinically relevant disease progression in adults with interstitial lung disease (ILD) associated with systemic sclerosis (SSc-ILD), according to an exploratory analysis of the Phase 3 SENSCIS trial. These new results, combined with the trial’s top-line data, which showed that Ofev significantly slowed the annual rate of…

Elevated blood levels of a protein called galectin-3 can help diagnose people with rheumatic diseases that include scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis, and systemic lupus erythematosus, a study suggests. The study, “Diagnostic Power of Galectin-3 in Rheumatic Diseases,” was published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine. Chronic inflammation…

The National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD)’s RareLaunch training program will host two days of free virtual workshops in December, with the aim of empowering leaders to start non-profit organizations and research programs to help people with rare diseases. “The RareLaunch program is central to NORD’s mission and history — community…

Genomic risk scores (GRS), which predict the likelihood of developing a condition based on a person’s genetic profile, successfully distinguished people with scleroderma from those with other immune-mediated inflammatory diseases or healthy individuals, a study…