ANTAEA Supports Rare Disease Patients and Orphan Drug Development
As a CRO, although involved in all types of clinical trials for highly prevalent therapeutic indications, ANTAEA has been always seeking to support research related to unmet medical needs, especially in the area of rare diseases. Orphan drug development is extremelycostly, thus, the final medicinal products belong to the most expensive ones in the market, resulting in a heavy burden on payers whether patients and their families, health insurance companies and Ministries of Health.Our passion to help these patients and to improve their chances to receive an adequate treatment has led to new initiatives, such as collaboration with Not-for-Profit organizations, Investigators treating rare diseases and patients’ associations.
We are pleased to announce our collaboration with the Rare Disease Foundation, Vancouver, Canada, with the aim to support their activities as well as activities of institutions and researchers the Rare Disease Foundation networks with.
Rare Disease
A rare disease is defined as a condition affecting less than 1 in 2000 people. There are more than 7000 diagnosed rare diseases and many more undiagnosed ones. About 1 in 12 people have a rare disease; this counts for more than 60 million people in Canada, Europe and the USA alone. Most known rare disorders are severe and chronic, many being degenerative and life threatening. Rare diseases are poorly characterized and so diverse that many conditions remain unnamed and people who do not have a specific diagnosis can be denied access to necessary medical support services or misdiagnosed and given a non-fitting treatment.
Mission
Transforming the world of rare disease care through researchers, caregivers, volunteers and families working together to find solutions for children and families affected by rare and undiagnosed diseases.
Response
As part of its Research-Focused Initiatives, the Foundation has developed a Microgrant Program that kick starts research on patient-focused projects for rare, under-studied diseases. As a compliment to research activities, the organization developed Parent Support Initiatives to foster the organization and empower the rare disease community. The Parent2Parent Resource Network is a group of local forums for cross-disease information sharing and social support. The group provides a means of organizing families for mutual support, mentoring and knowledge sharing regardless of their diagnosis. The community can then undertake educational outreach and advocacy issues relevant to a wide spectrum of rare diseases.
ANTAEA aims to contribute with extensive expertise on Project conception, Protocol development, and rare disease clinical trials, consulting, funding applications as well as networking with specialists world-wide. For further information please kindly contact Business.Development@antaea.com.
