News

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi have dissolved the partnership they formed to develop and market two treatments for the neurological disease familial amyloid polyneuropathy, or FAP. The change is aimed at streamlining the development of patisiran and ALN-TTRsc02, Alnylam said in a press release. The two drugs are RNAi treatments. This means…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has agreed to speedily review Ionis Pharmaceuticals’ application to get  its investigational drug inotersen approved as a treatment for hereditary TTR amyloidosis (hATTR). The application has been granted Priority Review status, shortening the review process from 10 to six months. The FDA…

The artificial induction of joint ossification, or surgical arthrodesis, is a safe and effective option to treat patients with rare knee structural deformities due to Charcot neuroarthropathy secondary to familial amyloid polyneuropathy (FAP), according to a case report. FAP represents a heterogeneous group of hereditary diseases caused by…

A combination of three tests that measure upper limb nerve damage and sensitivity to stimuli could help doctors distinguish between transthyretin familial amyloid polyneuropathy (TTR-FAP) and similar conditions, a study reports. Because TTR-FAP treatments are most effective when done early, the tests can improve patients’ chance of a better outcome, the…

An assessment of the global prevalence of familial amyloid polyneuropathy, caused by mutations in the transthyretin (TTR) gene, gave a similar count to that estimated in earlier studies. But the uppermost number in its range — that of 38,468 affected people — was notably higher. That upper estimate, in the study funded…

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and its partner Sanofi Genzyme have submitted an application that asks European regulators to approve patisiran for adults with hereditary transthyretin-mediated (hATTR) amyloidosis. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) announced earlier that it will review the so-called Marketing Authorisation Application (MAA) under an accelerated assessment pathway, which will…

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals has submitted a complete new drug application (NDA) for its investigational therapy patisiran to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of adults with hereditary ATTR amyloidosis, also called familial amyloid polyneuropathy (FAP). The application has been submitted on a rolling basis — a…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has agreed to Alnylam Pharmaceuticals’ request to expand the orphan drug designation for patisiran to include a second type of familial amyloidosis. Patisiran’s original orphan designation was for familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy, the most common form of the disease. The new designation covers a form…

Researchers have found that a large proportion of untreated people with the TTRVal30Met mutation — causing familial amyloid polyneuropathy (FAP) — have cognitive impairment, particularly if they experience disease symptoms. Such problems are more common in older patients and those with late-onset disease, the study, published in the Journal of Neurology…

Matrix metalloprotease-14 (MMP-14) is a novel biomarker for therapy follow-up, as well as a potential therapeutic target in familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy (FAP), said researchers in Portugal. Their study, “MMP-14 overexpression correlates with the neurodegenerative process in familial amyloidotic polyneuropathy,” appeared in the journal Disease Models and Mechanisms. FAP…