Roche has kicked off a worldwide early access program for its experimental therapy risdiplam by making it available to Europeans with the most serious forms of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Europeans with SMA type 1 will be able to get it immediately, Roche told SMA News…

Gene therapy administered while newborns are still in the womb may lessen spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) symptoms and prolong survival, a mouse study shows. The study, “Fetal Gene Therapy Using a Single Injection of Recombinant AAV9 Rescued SMA Phenotype in Mice,” was published in the journal Molecular…

For the new year, Cure SMA is stepping up its efforts to get states not testing for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) at birth to implement the practice — noting that such newborn screenings could dramatically improve patients’ quality of life. Some 17 states began newborn screenings for SMA…

SMA News Today brought you daily coverage of key findings, treatment developments  — including in-depth coverage of Zolgensma’s approval in the U.S. — and of clinical trials related to spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) throughout 2019. We look forward to reporting more of this relevant news to patients, family members, and…

Combining Spinraza with low-dose panobinostat — the active substance in an approved treatment for a blood cancer — may amplify Spinraza’s effectiveness, increasing the production of  the survival motor neuron (SMN) protein whose lack is the underlying cause of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), an early study in cell…

The impact of spinal muscular atrophy on daily life activities and the burden for caregivers should be added to tools currently used in clinical practice to measure health-related quality of life, a review suggests. The study, “A critical review of patient and parent caregiver oriented tools to assess health-related…

With so much recent publicity surrounding gene therapy, it’s no surprise that the topic was a major focus of the recent 2019 NORD Rare Diseases & Orphan Products Breakthrough Summit. From diagnosis and clinical trial design to manufacturing, pricing strategies, and ethical concerns, gene therapy — both its high…

Despite skyrocketing healthcare costs, President Trump is committed to protecting the 30 million or so Americans with rare diseases and ensuring timely, affordable access to lifesaving treatments, the nation’s highest-ranking health official said. “We have to think about how our financing system can protect those with serious and rare illnesses.

A glance around the walls of Barry J. Byrne’s office reveals a lot about the pediatric cardiologist who runs the Powell Gene Therapy Center at University of Florida (UF). In one corner is an unusual painting by 9-year-old Will Barkowsky of Jacksonville, Fla. Will, the first boy with…

One would think it might be easier to get a lifesaving medication, but it’s not.  I pursued Spinraza (nusinersen) for a time, only to stop. I’ve been keeping quiet about it because what if I don’t get it? It’s possible, even though I…