News

The Alexion Charitable Foundation has awarded $1.1 million in grants to programs that support those with rare diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization recently announced. The grants will support activities that align with the foundation’s Rare Belonging focus, a set of funding priorities aimed at improving the…

Depression is more common in people with primary systemic vasculitides, including in those with ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV), than in healthy people, a review study has found.  Depression in vasculitis patients was also significantly associated with a poorer quality of…

Cigarette smoking significantly increases the odds of developing ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV), particularly the disease form with antibodies against the myeloperoxidade (MPO) protein, and this risk is stronger in people with greater cigarette exposure, a large database study reported. The study, “Association of Cigarette Smoking With Antineutrophil…

People with ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) who have kidney involvement when they are diagnosed are more likely to experience major kidney relapses later, a new study shows. The study also indicates that induction treatment with cyclophosphamide and/or rituximab can protect against these relapses. Titled “Renal involvement…

Guidelines for using rituximab as a maintenance therapy in adults with ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) were recently published that, in addition to helping physicians with treatment approaches, highlight areas where more research is needed. “Rituximab for maintenance of remission in ANCA-associated vasculitis: expert consensus guidelines,” was…

The Black Women’s Health Imperative (BWHI) recently created a Rare Disease Diversity Coalition focused on reducing racial disparities in the rare disease community. Getting a timely and accurate diagnosis for a disease that few people — sometimes even physicians — have heard of is challenging on its own merit.

Continuing maintenance treatment with rituximab for long periods increases the likelihood that people with ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) remain in remission, without increasing the incidence or severity of adverse events, findings from a Phase 3 trial show. The study, “Long-Term Rituximab Use to Maintain Remission of…

Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) may be a safe and effective alternative to the standard induction therapy cyclophosphamide in certain ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) patients, a review study reports. Based on the data, researchers recommend that MMF be used in patients with autoantibodies against myeloperoxidase (MPO), non-life-threatening disease, and those…

InflaRx announced it has fully enrolled the first part of its Phase 2 trial assessing the safety and efficacy of IFX-1 in people with ANCA-associated vasculitis (AAV) in Europe. The company also completed a blinded interim analysis into the potential impact of COVID-19 on this…

While the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic won’t have much of an impact on cash available for new biotech startups, it has begun to cause delays in the development of gene therapies to treat a variety of rare diseases. That’s the consensus of industry experts who spoke in a May 26 webinar…