Rare Disease Day
Spread the Word to Increase Rare Disease Awareness and Research
On Rare Disease Day, more than 27 countries will promote this day to increase awareness for rare diseases. Across the world, this will be a day dedicated to raising awareness for different rare diseases and scientific research for those diseases. Contract Laboratory will be celebrating Rare Disease Day to increase research on rare diseases and the development of orphan drugs and other treatments for rare diseases. We will feature research studies, celebrations, and fundraising by our laboratories and would love to hear about other Rare Disease Day activities.
In the USA, a disease is considered a rare disease when it affects fewer than 200,000 people at any given time. According to Orphanet, there are 6,000-7,000 rare diseases worldwide and less than 5% have any treatment. More surprisingly, about 80% of these rare diseases have genetic origins. The other 20% of rare diseases result from bacterial or viral infections, allergies, or environmental causes, or are degenerative and proliferative. In total these rare disease illnesses affect an estimated 25 million people in the United States, half of them children.
The goals of Rare Disease Day include supporting and developing research for diagnostics and treatment, creating dialogue among researchers, patients, policymakers, and the public, advancing research and therapeutic efforts, and bringing a face to rare diseases through sharing patient stories with communities.
The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, or NCATS, is dedicated to getting “more treatments to more patients more quickly.” NCATS studies rare diseases through collaborative projects and looks at commonalities and molecular causes of the diseases in hopes of finding treatments or speeding up the development of treatments for both rare and common diseases.
If your organization or company is looking for laboratories for scientific research or testing regarding rare diseases or drug development, we can help! Call us at 1-855-377-6821 or submit a test request online.
