COVID-19 and it’s Impact on the Rare Disease Community: Insight

COVID-19 and it’s Impact on the Rare Disease Community: Insight

The COVID-19 pandemic has altered the lives of just about everyone, especially patients in receiving continued treatment and care. But what does it mean for patients who already have trouble accessing therapies or with finding and engaging with others like them?

The novel coronavirus, and the international response to the pandemic, pose significant and in many cases disproportionate threats to the rare disease community, given the vulnerability of those with chronic health conditions and the additional challenges being presented that affect their ability to weather this storm.

The rare disease community is one already facing significant challenges in obtaining early and accurate diagnoses and in accessing medicines and treatment, and their lives are all too often blighted by poor knowledge and understanding of their condition, leading to feelings of isolation and anxiety. They often have to navigate their way through unclear care pathways to obtain the support they and their families need; and now, with the additional threat of COVID- 19 on their health, the confusion and creeping isolation triggered by lockdown, and the stress placed on health systems, R&D and the pharma industry, the challenges appear more abundant than ever.


In the US, the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD)’s recently released COVID- 19 Community Survey Report reveals the far-reaching impact the pandemic is having on rare patients and families. 772 participants responded to the survey conducted by NORD’s research team from I April through 8 April, representing 49 of 50 states and Washington, DC across multiple disease categories.

The findings reflect a community directly affected and overwhelmingly concerned about the COVID-19 crisis. At 98%, almost all respondents were worried about COVID-19 and, it would appear, with due cause. Among the respondents, 95% said their families had been directly impacted due to COVID-19: 74% have had medical appointments cancelled; 59% had been offered a telephone or video call as an alternative to an in-person appointment; 69% were concerned about medication and medical supplies being in short supply; 29%  had lost employment temporarily or permanently, and 11% of those job losses resulted in loss of health insurance too.

EURORDIS has released the preliminary findings of its first multi-country survey on how COVTD-19 is affecting people living with a rare disease, concluding that “the pandemic greatly hinders access to care”. They report that 5,000+ rare disease patients and their family members from all EU countries and beyond, representing 993 diseases, responded to the survey carried out via their Rare Barometer Programme. The preliminary results are based on survey responses submitted between 18 and 28 April and very similar themes emerge to those noted in the US.

EURORDIS reports that since the beginning of the COVID- 19 pandemic, nine in 10 rare disease patients have experienced interruptions of the care they receive for their condition and three in 10 perceive that these interruptions of care could definitely (one in 10) or probably (two in 10) be life-threatening. More than half of those awaiting surgery or transplants have seen these interventions cancelled or postponed and 80% have seen their appointments for rehabilitation therapies such as speech and physical therapies – sometimes the only therapies available when treatments are not – postponed or cancelled. Patients who usually receive care in hospitals are experiencing specific difficulties, with almost three in 10 reporting that the hospital or unit that normally provides care for their rare disease ls closed. Half of respondents had participated in online consultations or another form of telemedicine since the start of the pandemic; this is new for two in 10 patients. Almost nine in 10 of those utilising this type of consultation are happy with the experience and that it has been very or fairly helpful. In addition, the survey found that almost six in 10 reports they no longer have access to medical therapies such as infusions, chemotherapy and hormonal treatment at home or in hospital. More than 60% have lost access to diagnosis assessments such as blood or cardiac tests and medical imaging that arc often a vital part of their daily care. Close to seven in 10 have seen their appointments with the general practitioners or specialists cancelled, and almost six in 10 have seen their psychiatry follow-up interrupted.


Rare disease stakeholders from healthcare, patient advocacy groups and the pharma and regulatory industry from across the UK have been sharing their insights into disruption, risks and opportunities presented by COVID-19 in their sectors through a regular Zoom working group facilitated by Cambridge Rare Disease Network, Medics4RareDiseases and Rare Revolution Magazine. The group have identified a number of additional concerns for the rare disease community which will affect early diagnoses, access to research and treatments.

A member of the group flagged that there will be no appointments with clinical geneticists in many areas as these staff have been redeployed, whilst some genetic counsellors may have been doing some appointments by phone, but it is likely they could be redeployed too. It was also raised that face to face healthcare professional rare disease education has also ground to a halt, and this, alongside die lack of genetic testing, raises concerns that timely and accurate diagnosis of rare conditions is further impacted.

Members of the cross-sector group raised concerns about disruption to clinical trials and appraisal of rare disease treatments by NICE with patients in need of new treatment left waiting. At least nine rare disease treatment single technology appraisals and highly specialised technology evaluations are known to be delayed and a number of clinical trials of rare disease drugs on hold. For parents with children needing rapid solutions to degenerative diseases, these delays can mean the difference between life and death.

The rare disease community is familiar with isolation, issues with accessibility, and having to adapt so they are closely watching for opportunities arising from this crisis which may work to their advantage in the longer term. They’re largely welcoming the sudden, rapid uptake of telehealth which could mean less time and money wasted on travelling to appointments. They are watching with interest the adoption of health wearables and technology to monitor health in the home and hopeful that clinical trials may become more accessible if pharma companies adopt more virtual monitoring techniques in the future. They are also expectant that a rise in e-learning for health care professionals in bite-sized chunks will lead to a flurry of rare disease education packages and a more aware and knowledgeable community.


The Cambridge Rare Disease Network provides a window into the current experience of the rare disease community, and we catch up with three previous Pharmafocus contributors to see how the UK lockdown is affecting them.

Rebecca Pender’s daughter Hannah lives with the ultra-rare condition Inv Dup Del 8p: a genetic arrangement that affects just 80 people worldwide.

Rebecca Pender portait photo

Rebecca Pender portrait photo

Have you been able to access necessary medicines through your normal routes, or have you seen shortages or other difficulties during this time?

We’ve struggled with getting access to one particular drug: IV Ativan. We normally source through the local pharmacy or hospital pharmacy, but both have had issues in providing medicines. We’ve also had delays with Lamictal, but not as long as with IV Ativan. We’ve also had several diagnostic appointments cancelled with no indication of when they are
likely to be rescheduled. All our appointments have been conducted over the phone except the ones which were cancelled, but I feel these could have been telehealth appointments too.

How are you and Hannah coping with having to stay inside during the lockdown?

Being so isolated from our support network has been difficult, especially as we are shielding for Hannah. The change of routine has been the toughest on the kids, especially for Hannah as with her learning disability she doesn’t understand what’s going on. I am also 35 weeks pregnant, so it’s been so difficult being unable to share the journey with the family. When the lockdown came in, I was actually really glad that rare disease patients were included in the shielding group. It felt like a win as so often in the rare disease community we fight for visibility, and this time we were seen and protected from the outset.

Do you have any concerns about the treatment of rare disease patients during this period?

People in the rare disease community are rightly concerned that they are at the back of the queue for lifesaving and life-prolonging treatments. I’m also concerned at the amount of rare disease patients who are being bullied into signing ‘do not resuscitate’ documents, and how many are being refused lifesaving medications and equipment supplies because of apparent lack of stock. Because so much is unknown with COVID-19, but also unknown with rare diseases, it’s even more of an enigma as to how the two will interact. Our rare disease causes learning disabilities, not an acute illness, so it’s worrying that our rare disease could be used as an excuse to withhold treatment.

Vaila Morrison’s nine-year old daughter Eilidh (Ej) was born with the ultra-rare condition KAT6A. 

Unique Feet Vaila and Eilidh go horseriding

Unique Feet go horseriding

Have you had difficulty in getting hold of any medications that Eilidh needs since the lockdown began in the UK?

EJ is currently taking a supplement to aid her metabolic function. It’s a drug that has to be prescribed via hospital rather than primary care through a GP, and strangely that’s meant it has – so far! – been easier to access during this time. Normally its a bit of a marathon of phone calls to get the prescription, check the pharmacy has it in stock and then make a trip to visit the hospital outpatient pharmacy. The last batch of three months’ worth was delivered by the hospital pharmacy to our door within 24 hours of calling the consultant’s secretary.

Self-isolation has been trying for everyone, but it must be doubly so for rare disease patients. What has been your experience?

EJ has profound learning disabilities and doesn’t understand the reasons behind staying at home at this time. She obviously misses her friends and the fantastic staff at her school, and is missing out on all the specialist equipment and activities. However, shes a very content and happy person so she’s not been fazed at all by spending more time at home. We are very lucky to have a garden so she can spend a lot of time outdoors to provide a bit of variation, as well as some fresh air and vitamin D. The main challenge for us is balancing the differing needs of everyone in the family. EJ is in the shielding category, and as it’s impossible for us to social distance within the household, that means we are all shielding together.

Have mobile health solutions helped you overcome some of the challenges of getting health advice?

EJ had an annual multi-team review at the beginning of the lockdown phase. This was able to go ahead via phone consultation with us at home and the paediatrician, school teacher,
school nurse and physio at school. This ended up being really useful as we could ask some COVID-19-specific questions about what category we should consider EJ to be in, and they were able to advise us of a SEND-specific helpline they were intending to implement to support families like ours.

Many rare disease patients must be in a similar situation right now. Have you been in touch with other patients or carers during this time? Has it helped to break the isolation?

We’ve been part of SWAN UK since before EJ was diagnosed. We’ve found it to be a fabulous support network for families with children with undiagnosed conditions. It’s mostly via an online forum as the network is national and we are all sprinkled across the country. This has meant the mechanism for staying in touch hasn’t had to adjust on the whole, as we are all used to chatting via a Facebook group. This has been a great source of info on how people are coping and accessing services. We are also members of a super local network of families. Unique Feet is a group for families of children with rare diseases run by the Cambridge Rare Disease Network (CamRARE) in Cambridgeshire. We do chat on line, but normally would be meeting up to do a variety of fun activities with the children. CamRARE has been brilliant at adjusting to circumstances and have set up zoom yoga sessions and sent out two activity bundles to the children, including postcards for the children to keep in contact with each other. Being able to chat with other parents, locally and nationally, has been so useful for questions about health, staying safe, access to care and also practical things like how people shielding manage to get shopping delivery slots!

I’m sure you share the same concerns as all of us for your personal health and of those close to us, but is there another level of anxiety for rare disease patients when it comes to catching the virus?

We are fortunate that EJ has never had a particular predisposition to chest infections; however, very little is actually known about her rare condition. There are only about 200 cases identified so far worldwide so it’s ultra-rare. Eilidh has had heart patch surgery in the past and there seems to be a metabolic element to her gene change, so there’s always a worry that we don’t know how her body will react to a new disease. The emergence of information about children being affected by inflammatory disease related to COVID-19 is a particular concern. There is a real concern that in the event of an overwhelmed system, any-one with certain age-related “frailties” or an “underlying health condition” is potentially going to be offered palliative care rather than active treatment.

This concern extends to those with learning disabilities. Despite a number of statements from the top level to say that learning disability should NOT be considered as a reason not to treat I can’t help but worry that there’s still an unconscious – sometimes conscious – prejudice against those who don’t fit the ‘normal healthy person’ bracket and an assumption about their quality of life. There’s been quite a number of worrying articles about ‘do not resuscitate’ orders being placed without loved ones’ knowledge; care homes for people with learning disabilities not having access to testing and PPE and figures recently reported by BBC Breakfast about the higher rate of death due to COVID-19 among those with learning disability. As EJ has profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD) as part of her genetic condition, its therefore of huge concern to me that if the system is overwhelmed, she might not get access to the same care as a typical child.

Based on your first-hand experience, what do you think needs to be done to address the needs of rare disease patients during this unprecedented time?

As at any time, the healthcare system needs to look beyond the average person and ‘the way we normally do things’ and strive to ensure patient-centred care. Listen to rare patients and their families, who often know as much, if not more, about their particular condition than any health professional. Work with us, and please don’t make assumptions!

 

Pharmphorum magazine writes about #RAREfest18 and the inspiration behind it

Pharmphorum magazine writes about #RAREfest18 and the inspiration behind it

Cambridge Rare Disease Network - Pharmphorum magazine writes about #RAREfest18 and the inspiration behind it 1

This year, patients, clinicians, scientists and researchers will gather in Cambridge for a unique event: RAREfest18, a festival that aims to bring people together to improve the lives of those living with rare diseases.

September 20, 2018 – article in Pharmaphorum written by Richard Staines  https://pharmaphorum.com/views-analysis-patients/awareness-rare-diseases/

“A family tragedy has prompted Kay Parkinson, founder of the rare disease charity Alstrom Syndrome UK, to create a festival encouraging joined-up thinking to help improve treatments, care and services for people with rare diseases. pharmaphorum spoke to her ahead of RAREfest18 to find out more.

On November 30th and December 1st this year, patients, clinicians, scientists and researchers will gather in Cambridge for a unique event: RAREfest18, a festival that aims to bring people together to improve the lives of those living with rare diseases.

Although rare diseases are classed as something that affects less than one in 2,000 people, it’s not that uncommon to have a rare disease. Around one in 17 people are affected by a rare disease, and about 80% of the 6,000 – 8,000 known rare diseases are genetically derived.

That’s why Kay Parkinson, who lost two children to the ultra-rare disease Alstrom Syndrome, is trying to bring influencers together at RAREfest18 – as interactions between people from a range of different backgrounds could prove to be game-changing in the world of rare disease treatments.

In an interview with pharmaphorum, Parkinson gave an example from personal experience – when she was attending a rare disease conference she met the CEO of the Canadian pharma company Prometic.

This chance conversation resulted Prometic trialling its PBI-4050, also used in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and other diseases involving scarring, in Alstrom’s Syndrome.

Encouraging data from a UK-based open-label phase 2 trial of PBI-4050 in Alstrom’s Syndrome were presented at the International Liver Congress, and the European Association for the Study of the Liver, earlier this year.

There is now talk of expanding the trial to other countries, and in order to encourage this kind of lateral thinking, Parkinson launched the first RAREfest in 2015.

Parkinson said: “When I started a charity we were warned off pharma, but they turned into our greatest allies.”

The event has already attracted speakers including the late professor Stephen Hawking who had the rare disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, biotech entrepreneur Dr Andy Richards, and Dr Segolene Ayme, emeritus director of research at the French Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM).

The goal for Parkinson is to take people out of their “siloes” and thinking creatively, and to raise awareness about rare diseases among the general public.

She said: “Much of the information and summits are very siloed. You see the same people all the time. We wanted to reach the general public.”

“We felt that there was not a nucleus place for the pharma industry to show what it is achieving, and charities to show what they need.”

Improving awareness

While Parkinson is full of praise for the way pharma has supported rare disease patients, she says that there is a pressing need for more awareness amongst doctors

While specialisation in the medical profession can help with more common diseases, Parkinson says clinicians often struggle to look at patients in a holistic manner and fail to spot that a group of different symptoms are caused by a rare disease.

For example, Alstrom Syndrome is characterised by retinal degeneration, nystagmus (wobbly eyes), sensitivity to light, loss of hearing, obesity and insulin resistance.

But other features may include kidney and liver dysfunction, type 2 diabetes, fatty substances in the blood, poor cardiac function, and bladder and bowel problems.

Symptoms may develop at different stages and not everyone is affected by all of them, and even amongst siblings the symptoms can vary.

It would be easy for a clinician to treat any one of these symptoms – but to look at them together and make a correct diagnosis of Alstrom’s Syndrome is much more challenging.

This proved to be an issue while she was trying to get a diagnosis for her children, Matthew and Charlotte, who sadly died in their twenties as a result of the disease.

Parkinson said: “The individual components were diagnosed. They [clinicians] did not pick up heart disease, nobody put it all together. An eye specialist is not going to look at hearing loss. The whole thinking for rare disease needs to change.”

Patients with rare diseases are more likely to try and interact directly with pharma, or an expert in the field to try and find answers, she added.

“For rare diseases, you can’t pin your hopes on doctors, you pin your hopes on somebody developing something that’s not even there,” said Parkinson.

Rewriting the code

With so many rare diseases caused by faults in the genetic code, there is hope that technology like CRISPR offer the potential to treat the underlying cause of the disease, rewriting a patient’s genetic code to produce a cure.

There are already gene therapies on the market that use different techniques to overcome genetic diseases.

Parkinson hopes that these could lead to treatments for diseases such as Alstrom’s Syndrome but is realistic about the speed of progress.

“I hope it (CRISPR) may become an acceptable treatment. Costs will be involved, and a lot will depend on the funds going into it.”

“There will be lots of barriers to overcome. There are going to be great upsets before there are real breakthroughs. They don’t act like other diseases.”

“We have to remain hopeful as there are so few alternatives, I think huge challenges are still there as when you start intervening in humans it may take time to fully realise the implications.”

In the short term, Parkinson is hoping to drum up support, both financially and from increased awareness, for RAREfest.

While some of the events organised are based on arts and culture, Parkinson hopes they will foster an all-important dialogue between patients, doctors, pharma and wider society to help find new treatments or cures and improve care.

With organisations such as EURORDIS, the European umbrella group for a range of rare disease patient groups, and the Genetic Alliance working in a similar role at a national level in the UK, Parkinson is optimistic that progress will be made.

“Rare diseases are moving up the agenda, at least people are talking about them,” Parkinson said.

 

Medics 4 Rare Diseases Red Flag Survey

Medics 4 Rare Diseases Red Flag Survey

Medics4RareDiseases are excited to announce the launch of their new research project: The M4RD Red Flags Survey.

Cambridge Rare Disease Network - Medics 4 Rare Diseases Red Flag Survey 2

The purpose of the survey is to find out what different rare diseases have in common during the time before diagnosis, a period often called ‘the diagnostic odyssey’.

This is a piece of research that M4RD have wanted to do for many years as they have attended conferences listening to similar stories from patients and families irrespective of their specific rare disease. The final survey is the culmination of many hours of discussion and design.

The survey opens on Monday 23rd July and closes at the end of August 2018.

Please get involved and share your views so we can all support Medics4RD in driving change within the medical profession in terms of rare disease diagnosis. It is an online survey that takes 10 minutes to complete and can be accessed via this link: http://bit.ly/M4RDredflags.

If you need to access the survey in any other format or have any issues don’t hesitate to contact info@m4rd.org.

 

Cambridge Rare Disease Network - Medics 4 Rare Diseases Red Flag Survey 3

Patient Centred Focus at Genomics Festival 30-31 Jan 2018 – Front Line Genomics

Patient Centred Focus at Genomics Festival 30-31 Jan 2018 – Front Line Genomics

In January 2018 CamRARE visited the 2-day GenomicsFest at ExCel in London hosted by Front Line Genomics.

We heard inspiring talks and made great connections for the future. It was exciting to see Rare Disease charities and individuals taking to the stage to share the importance of genomics in diagnosis and personalised treatment and to give the science a human side.

The Transforming Genetic Medicine Initiative have written a great blog about the patient centred focus of the festival.  Check out the link to see how rare disease charities, individuals and advocates had their say. Many thanks TGMI for allowing us to share your blog and for ensuring patients and their advocates are at the heart of the conversation.

Cambridge Rare Disease Network - Patient Centred Focus at Genomics Festival 30-31 Jan 2018 - Front Line Genomics 4
Image from Front Line Genomics website

DNA Digest – reflecting on the CamRARE Summit 2017

DNA Digest – reflecting on the CamRARE Summit 2017

Rare diseases are rare but rare disease patients are numerous. 

DNA Digest said “One of the most impressive parts of the program was patients presenting their posters. Each person was suggested to share three wishes with the audience, regarding the future care of people with their conditions. Becoming more visible, recognised and connected was a unanimous wish of the patients”.

Click to read the whole article.

Ring20 Research and Support UK share their take home messages and collaborations from #CamRARE2017 Summit

Ring20 Research and Support UK share their take home messages and collaborations from #CamRARE2017 Summit

Allison Watson of Ring20 Research and Support Uk attended #CamRARE2017 summit with her Patient Journey Poster.

“A great innovation of the conference and real highlight for us was the patient journey poster competition. Prior to the conference, we were 1 of 33 different patient groups who took the time to produce posters to summarise their rare condition and their own patient journey. I (Allison) have never produced a poster before and have no background in Graphic Design, but with some guidance from the lovely CamRARE team I gave it a go, because I felt the importance was in getting the word out about r(20) syndrome, how it affects us and what we want, not the quality of my artwork!”

Read Allison’s full review of our 2017 Annual Summit on the Ring20 Research and Support UK website.

 

Cambridge Rare Disease Network - Ring20 Research and Support UK share their take home messages and collaborations from #CamRARE2017 Summit 5
Ring20 Patient journey poster competition entry

Findacure reflections on CamRARE2017 summit. Re-imagining the Patient Journey.

Findacure reflections on CamRARE2017 summit. Re-imagining the Patient Journey.

On 23rd October the rare disease community gathered in Cambridge for the Cambridge Rare Disease Network’s third annual summit. This day-long conference is always a great opportunity for Findacure to meet up with the rare disease community on our own doorstep, and we were thrilled to be invited to speak on the day. Rather than give a blow by blow account of the day, Findacure’s CEO, Rick decided that his blog for the week would highlight some of its major themes.

All conferences are different. They have a different focus, target a different audience, and deliver a very different atmosphere. In a month filled with conferences, including Rick speaking at Bio2Business, an orphan drugs and rare diseases conference in London, and Katie attending EyeforPharma, it is the conferences focusing on rare diseases that have been particularly special. In addition to our own Newcastle Rare Disease Showcase event (more about that soon), the Findacure team had the pleasure of attending the CamRARE summit.  After a great day, I thought that I’d share my thoughts on what the CamRARE summit stands for.

 

C is for collaboration

Collaboration really was at the heart of the CamRARE summit. The team had worked hard to select a programme of talks that showcased projects in the rare diseases that involved many different disciplines. The specialist orphan drug pharmaceutical company Sobi spoke about their work with patient groups, both to help develop new treatments, and to improve the way that drugs are delivered to ease their day-to-day lives.

Cambridge Rare Disease Network - Findacure reflections on CamRARE2017 summit. Re-imagining the Patient Journey. 6
The Mendelian team highlighted the work there online platform is doing to provide an effective digital diagnostic tool which is accessible and helpful to primary care professionals. Importantly this tool is responsive and relies on the input of clinicians around the world to improve its results.

Finally Kay Parkinson, CEO of Cambridge Rare Disease Network, gave an excellent talk about her personal experience as a mother of two children with Alström syndrome. When exhibiting a poster about the condition at an international conference, she made contact with a pharmaceutical company who had a product that had the potential to act as a treatment for this condition. From this serendipitous meeting, a research project and clinical trial for this ultra-rare condition has snowballed.

Cambridge Rare Disease Network - Findacure reflections on CamRARE2017 summit. Re-imagining the Patient Journey. 7

R  is for “Read all about it”

A great innovation of the conference, and real highlight for me, was the patient journey poster competition (a project born from Kay’s own poster experience). Prior to the conference, 33 different patient groups took the time to produce posters to summarise their rare condition and their own patient journey. These posters were shared with all delegates in printed form so that everyone, whether clinician, researcher, life sciences worker, or rare disease patient, could read all about the impact of a multitude of rare diseases.

Even more excitingly five poster authors were selected to give a five-minute lightning talk during the conference, telling the audience a little about their condition and their three wishes for the future. The CamRARE team asked Findacure to chair this session, and Mary Rose and I brought our dreaded bell along to help ensure that all of the speakers kept to time. It was a real pleasure to be involved in this session, and the talks were of an exceptional quality.

 

D is for diversity

The whole day was hugely diverse, with a number of different sessions helping to bring different interest groups into the rare disease fold. The team

from Students4RareDiseases were involved in a session with medics, students, and genetic counsellors focussing on the role early career healthcare professionals can play in rare diseases. There was also a session focussing on the role of technology in rare diseases, with the team from No Isolation showcasing a robot avatar, which is designed to help children who are unable to attend their school due to ill health remain engaged in the classroom. These two breakout sessions combined with the CamRARE Companies Forum and patient journeys posters, really ensured that everyone had a place at the event.

Cambridge Rare Disease Network - Findacure reflections on CamRARE2017 summit. Re-imagining the Patient Journey. 8
Cambridge Rare Disease Network - Findacure reflections on CamRARE2017 summit. Re-imagining the Patient Journey. 9

N is for new hope

The whole event was a great showcase for rare diseases, and we are grateful to the CamRARE team for giving Findacure such an exciting role in the day. Between the talks on drug repurposing, gene editing, and the impatient patient revolution, I left the day with the sense that there is lots to look forward to for rare disease patients in the near future.

AKU Society on rare disease nursing

AKU Society on rare disease nursing

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Nurse Specialists provide expert advice related to specific conditions, providing specialist advice and psychological support for both the patient and family.

Patients consistently rate their Nurse Specialist as higher than other health professionals in terms of both their honesty and of understanding their needs.

Read more at the AKU Society blog.

Collective intelligence at the Cambridge Rare Disease Network

Collective intelligence at the Cambridge Rare Disease Network

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Developing and using our collective intelligence – using digital and social technologies to support and enhance the work of thinking beyond the capabilities of any individual person- will be vital as we take on the key challenges of coming years; our climate, managing our resources, health, ageing population.

Lydia Nicholas of Nesta blogged about the 2015 Cambridge Rare Disease Summit, sharing some examples of collective intelligence ‘in the wild’.

Read her post on the Nesta website.

CamRARE Inaugural Summit: Tackling the rare disease conundrum with passion, innovation and investment

CamRARE Inaugural Summit: Tackling the rare disease conundrum with passion, innovation and investment

Tackling the rare disease conundrum with passion, innovation and investment

Article by Paul Tunnah, Pharmaphorum

Passion

The level of passion for making a difference among all those working in rare diseases is incredible, but it is no doubt led by the patients and their families themselves, each with their own unique story. But it is the ability for these individuals to truly empower themselves and cross the bridge from patient/carer to researcher, communicator and innovator that never ceases to amaze me. 

Take the example of Matt Might whose response to his son’s initially undiagnosed condition was to secure funding for his entire genome sequencing and identify a completely new rare disease cause by a mutation in the NGLY1 gene. Since then, he has built a global community (NGLY1.org), which has so far identified 39 patients around the world, accepted a Visiting Professorship at Harvard Medical School and is now actively leading the race to find a drug that can be used as an effective treatment.

His opening keynote set the tone for the entire day and his experience is reflective of many others who are taking the same proactive steps and not waiting for others to bring the medicine to them. Nick Sireau, one of the CamRARE founders and Chairman of the AKU Society and Findacure, is another good example in the work he has done to identify a treatment for his two sons, who have alkaptonuria (AKU), also known as black bone disease.

Innovation comes in many forms, but drug development is at the core of it

Cambridge Rare Disease Network - CamRARE Inaugural Summit: Tackling the rare disease conundrum with passion, innovation and investment 12
Professor Gregory Winter – Cam Uni and Cambridge Antibody Technology (right), Dr Tim Guilliams – Founder and Chair CamRARE (left)

 Innovation

Such passion needs to be combined with innovation to help find solutions to the problems that rare disease patients and their families face. Innovation comes in many forms, but drug development is at the core of it and the Summit featured several notable scientific researchers sharing their experiences.

 Professor Sir Greg Winter, cofounder of Cambridge Antibody Technology and local to Cambridge as Master of Trinity College, explained the science of synthetic antibodies and their critical role in treating diseases where the genetic pathways are well understood, including their developing application in rare diseases. His current focus is on bicyclic small peptides, which could hold the same therapeutic potential as antibodies, while being able to permeate cells more easily owing to their small size and being cheaper to produce. A later speech by Professor Steve Jackson, also locally based with his work at The Gurdon Institute, presented equally dazzling science into the mechanisms of DNA-repair pathways. Although early application has been in cancer treatment (Jackson was a founder of KuDOS Pharmaceuticals, which developed olaparib and was later acquired by AstraZeneca), the potential is much broader and his work touches on rare diseases such as ataxia.

Innovation also comes in how the rare disease community is connected to help elevate disease awareness and aid in bringing such great science to patients. Eurordis, the ‘voice of rare disease patients in Europe’ has been at the forefront of activities here and clearly has ambitions to expand into a more global role. Denis Costello, RareConnect Project Leader, provided a sneak preview of what the new RareConnect.org information platform will look like, which appears to be very much like a Google for rare diseases, including translation into multiple languages. With launch anticipated in the next couple of months, watch this space!

Passion and innovation is impossible to translate into front-line treatment without sufficient funding

Investment

Innovation also comes in how the rare disease community is connected to help elevate disease awareness and aid in bringing such great science to patients. Eurordis, the ‘voice of rare disease patients in Europe’ has been at the forefront of activities here and clearly has ambitions to expand into a more global role. Denis Costello, RareConnect Project Leader, provided a sneak preview of what the new RareConnect.org information platform will look like, which appears to be very much like a Google for rare diseases, including translation into multiple languages. With launch anticipated in the next couple of months, watch this space!

Cambridge Rare Disease Network - CamRARE Inaugural Summit: Tackling the rare disease conundrum with passion, innovation and investment 13
Herman Hauser – speaker 

 One topic for the day was the idea of ‘repurposing’ – taking existing drugs for more common conditions and securing approval for them to be used as a rare disease therapeutic. This has been a core focus for the work of the aforementioned champions like Matt Might, but more systematic initiatives are now underway with platforms like  www.cureaccelerator.org. Dr Bruce Bloom, President of Cures Within Reach, the organisation behind Cure Accelerator, also outlined how they are trying to work with the generics industry as a whole to support drug repurposing.

While charities such as MRC Technology are working tirelessly to help fund the transition from research to treatment and there is a sense that more funding is flowing in the direction of this area (something also covered by Professor Steve Jackson), there is a clear need to explore novel funding mechanisms. This was covered during an interesting session on ‘alternative funding strategies’, which included crowdfunding and the growing area of impact investing, where investment is made not just on the basis of expected return financially, but also what ethical impact the work will have. 

Could we see ‘social investment bonds’ help drive future rare disease research?

Paul Tunnah

Ultimately, it is clear that the involvement of commercial companies in rare diseases is critical to accelerate the race to find cures. Financial incentives are part of the solution here, but also needed is the realisation that a rare disease indication can provide a good ‘foothold’ for approval as a precursor to approval in a broader range of indications. In addition, the experience gained from working in the microcosm of rare diseases could also have much broader benefits, as personalised medicine holds the potential to ultimately segment common conditions into clusters of rare diseases.

Cambridge Rare Disease Network - CamRARE Inaugural Summit: Tackling the rare disease conundrum with passion, innovation and investment 14
Professor Stephen Hawking provided a video keynote 

A closing video keynote from none other than Professor Stephen Hawking reminded us all of the importance of continued activity in tackling the challenges of rare diseases. Hawking, who was diagnosed at a young age with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a motor neurone disease, has defied the odds in staying alive, but how many brilliant minds have been lost too early under similar circumstances? I would challenge any health economist to calculate the benefits of investing in rare disease treatment in that context