Targeting shared molecular etiologies to accelerate drug development for rare diseases

Abstract Rare diseases affect over 400 million people worldwide and less than 5% of rare diseases have an approved treatment. Fortunately, the number of underlying disease etiologies is far less than the number of diseases, because many rare diseases share a common molecular etiology. Moreover, many...

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Main Authors: Galliano Zanello, Macarena Garrido‐Estepa, Ana Crespo, Daniel O'Connor, Rima Nabbout, Christina Waters, Anthony Hall, Maurizio Taglialatela, Chun‐Hung Chan, David A Pearce, Marc Dooms, Philip John Brooks
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Springer Nature 2023-06-01
Series:EMBO Molecular Medicine
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.15252/emmm.202217159
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Summary:Abstract Rare diseases affect over 400 million people worldwide and less than 5% of rare diseases have an approved treatment. Fortunately, the number of underlying disease etiologies is far less than the number of diseases, because many rare diseases share a common molecular etiology. Moreover, many of these shared molecular etiologies are therapeutically actionable. Grouping rare disease patients for clinical trials based on the underlying molecular etiology, rather than the traditional, symptom‐based definition of disease, has the potential to greatly increase the number of patients gaining access to clinical trials. Basket clinical trials based on a shared molecular drug target have become common in the field of oncology and have been accepted by regulatory agencies as a basis for drug approvals. Implementation of basket clinical trials in the field of rare diseases is seen by multiple stakeholders—patients, researchers, clinicians, industry, regulators, and funders—as a solution to accelerate the identification of new therapies and address patient's unmet needs.
ISSN:1757-4676
1757-4684