News

Children with SMA May Also Show Symptoms of Farber Disease, Case Study Reports

Children with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) may present symptoms indicative of other genetic disorders, such as Farber disease, according to a case study. Researchers also highlighted the importance of analyzing DNA mutations, in addition to clinical observations, in more accurately diagnosing and treating rare diseases. The study, “Polyarticular Arthritis and…

SMA and Sleep Quality

In this FightSMA video shared in June 2011, meet Dr. Nanci Yuan who is a board certified pediatric pulmonologist and also a sleep medicine physician.  Yuan shares about how poor sleep quality affects children with spinal muscular atrophy and their caregivers. Learn all about the new exoskeleton designed to specifically give children who…

Trial of SMA Therapy RG7800 on Hold, but Roche, Partners Developing Another Compound

International pharmaceutical company Roche, with its SMA drug development collaboration partners PTC Therapeutics and the SMA Foundation, said a clinical study called Moonfish (NCT02240355) that was investigating a compound and investigational medicine known as RG7800 for people with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) was placed on clinical hold in April 2015 after…

4 Areas of SMA Management

Approximately one in 10,000 newborns are born with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a life threatening condition that results in muscle wasting, severely impaired mobility, and sometimes a shortened life span in severe cases. Currently, SMA is incurable but there are ways to manage the condition and bring comfort to patients. Learn how…

New Report Recommends SMA Carrier and Perinatal Screening

Screening for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in high-risk groups could greatly reduce the impact of the disease, according to a new article published by researchers in Ottawa. The report, “Opening the window: The case for carrier and perinatal screening for spinal muscular atrophy,” was published in the journal Neuromuscular Disorders.

Promising Study of SMA Therapy in Mice Targets ‘Backup Gene’ SMN2

Cure SMA-funded researcher Dr. Christian L. Lorson and his colleagues have published a paper in the journal Molecular Therapy describing a promising therapeutic prospect in a mouse model with severe spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). The article, “Optimization of Morpholino Antisense Oligonucleotides Targeting the Intronic Repressor Element1 in Spinal…