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The nonprofit RARE-X is creating an easily-accessible, centralized data hub for all rare disease patient data that can help researchers answer questions about existing disorders, discover new ones, and work toward finding treatments. It was spun out of the work that Nicole Boice, founder and chief engagement officer of…

The Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research (FSR) has introduced a new online support group for those with chronic sarcoidosis. The peer-led group, created in response to patient feedback received last year, opens with a six-month schedule that began this month. Patients and caregivers can participate each month in one…

Poorer lung function and a higher body mass index (BMI), a measure indicating obesity, are significantly associated with a lower self-reported quality of life in people with sarcoidosis, a German study found. Of note, the tool used to assess quality of life — called the King’s Sarcoidosis Questionnaire or…

Since 2008, Rare Disease Day — the last day of February — has brought together patients, caregivers, family members, friends, and advocates from around the world to raise awareness and improve equity for the more than 7,000 known rare diseases that affect more than 300 million people. In 2022, the…

In late 2012, Rhonda Underhill started having headaches and extreme fatigue. She attributed it to the long hours she was working as a general manager for a small business in Maryland. Rhonda Underhill (Courtesy of The Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research) After rounds of MRIs, misdiagnoses,…

Females with suspected cardiac sarcoidosis experience chest pain and palpitations more frequently than males, but their heart is affected less severely by the condition, a study suggests. Yet, the incidence of either death from all causes or significant ventricular arrhythmia — an abnormal rhythm in the heart’s lower chambers…

aTyr Pharma has announced that its investigational immunomodulatory therapy for pulmonary sarcoidosis will now be called efzofitimod instead of ATYR1923. The change comes after the United States Adopted Names (USAN) Council and the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Nonproprietary Name (INN) expert committee selected efzofitimod as the generic name…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted orphan drug designation to aTyr Pharma’s experimental immunomodulatory molecule ATYR1923 for the treatment of sarcoidosis. The therapy is being developed for severe inflammatory diseases affecting the lungs, which in sarcoidosis patients is called pulmonary sarcoidosis. Orphan drug status is given to…

INOpulse, a device that administers inhaled nitric oxide, significantly improved blood flow parameters in a small proof-of-concept clinical trial conducted in people with pulmonary hypertension associated with sarcoidosis (PH-Sarc). “We are pleased with the positive top-line data from this proof-of-concept study,” Naseem Amin, MD, chairman of the board…