Over the past 50 years, the frequency of allergies and autoimmune diseases has risen rapidly. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been much progress in understanding this epidemic of allergic disease. Hay fever and atopic dermatitis have both increased more than two-fold in the past 50 years. The easy hypothesis would be to attribute this increasing incidence to […]
Health app designed to engage users through increased healthful living styles are at the base of this innovation in clinical plan and trial design. The design of the Health app was a collaborative effort between Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Apple Watch. The randomized trial is designed to determine if wearable technology can detect atrial fibrillation (AFib). […]
Neutrophils use an enzyme called neutrophil elastase (NE) to cleave bacteria. Human neutrophils release NE which looks like a fibrous structure like webs. These webs, able to trap bacteria, are called neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). These webs are constituted of NE, other proteins, and copious amounts of DNA. It is important to keep in mind […]
Gene therapies for disorders such as X-linked Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID, sometimes known as “bubble boy disease”), and Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) have, for the first time, shown remarkable safety and efficacy results in clinical trials. FDA approved Trikafta, a gene-based therapy creating hope for children with cystic fibrosis and Zolgensma, a gene therapy drug, […]
Autoimmunity occurs when the body is unable to differentiate “self” from “non-self” which results in overactive immune response against own cells and tissues. Autoimmune diseases affect 5 %-8% of the population; 78% affected are females. Low level autoimmunity is normal. Over 80 conditions linked to autoimmunity have been identified and 15 diseases directly linked to […]
Every clinical study has its unique challenges that initially may not have been factored for. Experienced management can help sponsors to address prolonged trial timeline and high quality data. Rare Diseases and Precision Medicine Require Unique Approaches In Clinical Trial Design. There could be any number of factors that could necessitate a study being rescued. […]
Retrophin’s experimental PKAN drug fosmetpantotenate fails phase III trial Pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration (PKAN) is a rare disease characterized by a progressive neurodegenerative disorder and buildup of iron in the brain which is estimated to affect up to 5000 patients worldwide. PKAN is inherited in an autosomal recessive manner and is caused by mutations in the […]
Neuroinflammation is inflammation of the nervous tissue. It may be initiated in response to a variety of cues, including infection, traumatic brain injury, toxic metabolites, or autoimmunity. In the CNS, including the brain and spinal cord, microglia are the resident innate immune cells that are activated in response to these cues. The CNS is typically an immunologically privileged site because peripheral […]
In practice, for a given clinical trial, it is not uncommon to have 3–5 protocol amendments after the initiation of the clinical trial. One of the major impacts of many protocol amendments is that the target patient population may have been shifted during the process, which may have resulted in a totally different target patient […]
BBCR Consulting, for the first time this year, decided to attend on October 15th – 17th in London- UK, the European edition of the Gene Therapies in Rare Disorders conference. In our opinion, the event, as promised, proven to be: ”…uniquely focused conference that will bring the leaders in the field together to discuss the […]