News

Early in September, the story of a 4-year-old girl from West Monroe, with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), Ella Ecker, aired on Fox News about her one big wish to go to Disney World. Soon, donations for Ella’s wish to come true began coming in, but what sealed…

While SMA is a rare disease that many people are unaware of, an active network of advocacy groups work worldwide to raise funds and awareness about the disease. As part of this effort, the Angel Gala in Canada will continue its legacy of supporting spinal muscular atrophy (SMA)…

A study entitled “Patient with spinal muscular atrophy with respiratory distress type 1 presenting initially with hypertonia” reports a case study of a two-month-old boy with spinal muscular atrophy with respiratory distress type 1 that displayed hypertonia as an initial symptom and progressing to bone tissue compromise, a new symptom that has…

In the study entitled “Observational study of spinal muscular atrophy type I and implications for clinical trials” published in the Neurology journal, the authors describe the clinical features of spinal muscular atrophy type I, data that can be useful to future design of clinical trials. Spinal…

In a recent study published in the Molecular Therapy journal, the authors report an improved method to deliver the human genetic sequence that can restore the missing SMN protein, responsible for spinal muscular atrophy, directly to the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) via single injection. The study was entitled “…

Next Saturday, November, 8, Santa Barbara will host dozens of racers and walkers to raise both awareness and funds to support Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) patients, at the annual Santa Barbara Veteran’s Day Marathon and Half Marathon. Gwendolyn Strong, a 7-year-old patient and the beneficiary of the event, dubbed the Gwendolyn…

Isis Pharmaceuticals received a $5 million milestone payment from partner GlaxoSmithKline following news of its investigational drug ISIS-GSK5Rx being granted the development candidate designation. ISIS-GSK5Rx is the second medication created as a result of the collaboration between the two companies and is an antisense drug, indicated for the treatment of an undisclosed ocular disease. Among other…

A study entitled “Myogenic program dysregulation is contributory to disease pathogenesis in spinal muscular atrophy” showed that lack of SMN leads to delayed postnatal skeletal muscle development in mouse models of spinal muscular atrophy. The study was published in the Human Molecular Genetics journal. Spinal Muscular Atrophy…

A 10-year-old child born with spinal muscular atrophy is throwing a benefit concert in support of everyone living with this rare, genetic disease that causes progressive muscle wasting and mobility impairment. While SMA has been known to be fatal in infants, oftentimes causing death by the second year of life, Adyn Bucher…

A study entitled “A simple and precise diagnostic method for spinal muscular atrophy using a quantitative SNP analysis system” published in Electrophoresis describes a system for diagnosis of spinal muscular atrophy that is both fast and accurate. Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is caused by mutations…