Gene therapy is the future of treating rare, genetic diseases that were previously thought to have no cure. CRD is breaking down what gene therapy is and how we are using gene therapy to develop therapies for neuromuscular diseases including Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), limb-girdle muscular dystrophy subtypes, and spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3).

Cure Rare Disease, in partnership with Charles River Laboratories, has successfully created 3 mouse models that harbor the humanized form of the dystrophin gene. Each model has a mutation that causes Duchenne muscular dystrophy that CRD is currently working to treat, meaning they can be utilized for critical in vivo studies to test the safety and efficacy of mutation-specific gene editing therapeutics. The success of this project paves the way for future therapeutics to be developed to treat rare and ultra-rare genetic disorders.

My husband Keven and I have 3 kids and we’ve been homeschooling for more than 10 years. Here’s a little background of how we got here.

Unlike traditional methods for developing therapeutics for common and (relatively) rare diseases, ultra-rare disease drug development requires a different approach and mechanism in light of a limited ability to commercialize and even reach BLA/NDA approval once clinical trials are complete....

We’re all familiar with what the news is saying about COVID and its effect, but how does it really affect rare disease patients and their families? We asked Jess Curran and Karen Morales to share the experiences they had when COVID made its way to their families.