News

Toxic accumulation of protoporphyrin IX in the skin and liver of people with erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP) — the most common porphyria of childhood — occurs through the action of the protein transporter ABCG2, a recent mouse study shows. The findings suggest that blocking ABCG2 might be a way of treating EPP.

Next month’s annual conference of the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) in Washington, D.C., couldn’t come at a better time, says Marshall Summar, MD, chairman of NORD’s board of directors. “The pace of discovery in rare diseases has gone from brisk to hypersonic,” Summar told Bionews Services, publisher…

Isoniazid, an antibiotic to treat tuberculosis, produces promising results in mice with erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP), but the standard dose is not high enough to have an effect in humans, a pilot study finds. The study, “Results of a pilot study of isoniazid in patients with…

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals announced new findings from several clinical trials that continue to demonstrate the effectiveness of givosiran, the company’s investigational therapy for the treatment of acute hepatic porphyria (AHP). The findings were presented at the 2019 International Congress on Porphyrins and Porphyrias (ICPP), held Sept. 8-11…

Glycyrrhizin may be an effective treatment option for patients who develop porphyria cutanea tarda associated with alcohol abuse, a case report says. The case report study, “A first report of porphyria cutanea tarda successfully treated with glycyrrhizin,” was published in the journal of Dermatologic Therapy. Porphyria cutanea…

Rare diseases deeply affect not only the children who experience them, but also their healthy brothers and sisters, as their parents can attest.    Two entries in November’s “Disorder: The Rare Disease Film Festival” will focus on what siblings go through, according to the San Francisco festival’s co-founder,…

People with porphyria cutanea tarda (PCT) have higher risks of developing gastrointestinal diseases and certain types of cancer, compared with individuals from the general population, a study says. They also are more likely to die prematurely. The findings of the study, “Increased mortality in patients with porphyria…

Developing gene therapies for rare diseases is one thing. Creating gene-edited “designer babies” is quite another. German legal expert Timo Minssen outlined the potentially explosive ethical landmines surrounding such issues during a recent talk at the New York Genome Center. Minssen directs the Center for Advanced Studies in…

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Ironwood Pharmaceuticals are joining forces to better inform healthcare professionals about givosiran, Alnylam’s potential therapeutic for acute hepatic porphyria (AHP). Givosiran (also known as ALN-AS1) is an RNA-based therapy that works by blocking the activity of the enzyme aminolevulinic acid synthase 1 (ALAS1), whose loss stops…

Imagine living your whole life with a painful disease so rare that only 25 others worldwide have what you have. And that you’re one of just six such people who’ve made it to adulthood. Neena Nizar doesn’t have to imagine. The 41-year-old English professor at Metro Community College in Elkhorn,…