News

In infants with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) type 1, lower blood levels of phosphorylated neurofilament heavy chain (pNF-H) — a marker of nerve cell damage — before starting treatment with Spinraza (nusinersen) are significantly associated with greater motor gains over time. These findings, based on data from the Phase…

BioNews Insights is launching a new survey, in collaboration with SMA News Today, with the goal of understanding how different aspects of this disease affect an individual’s quality of life. The survey, which is expected to take about 15 minutes to complete, opens with WHOQOL-100, a set of questions developed…

A new U.S. initiative called Rare Disease Cures Accelerator–Data and Analytics Platform — dubbed RDCA–DAP — aims to accelerate treatment innovation across rare diseases by sharing existing patient data and promoting the standardization of new data collection. Launched during a virtual workshop in September, the U.S. Food and Drug…

After being treated with Evrysdi (risdiplam) for at least a year, pre-symptomatic infants with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) have retained the ability to swallow, and most have been able to stand and walk within developmentally normal windows. That’s according to new data from the RAINBOWFISH clinical trial presented…

Biogen is continuing to actively recruit patients for its Phase 4 RESPOND trial, which is evaluating the benefits of Spinraza (nusinersen) in infants and children with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) who responded poorly to the gene therapy Zolgensma. Participants are now being enrolled at 10 sites in the U.S. and one in Italy,…

Children with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) type 2 or 3 in China have lower bone mineral density — putting them at increased risk for bone fractures — compared with healthy children of the same age and sex, a study has found. Furthermore, SMA type 2 children had significantly…

Football and science seem to be disparate fields of play at first glance, but the nonprofit Uplifting Athletes is finding common ground by leveraging the popularity of college gridiron games to fund research for rare diseases. Its nearly two dozen chapters — representing college football teams across the nation…

Lung function and upper limb abilities worsened over a two-year period in young people with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) type 3 who were unable to walk (non-ambulatory), a U.K. study has found. At the time of the study, the approved, disease-modifying therapy Spinraza (nusinersen) was unavailable to SMA…

[Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story did not specify in its opening statement that Spinraza’s use in this proposed trial would follow Evrysdi’s use.] Biogen plans to launch a Phase 3b trial into the safety and efficacy of a higher dose of Spinraza (nusinersen) in children,…

Blood levels of neurofilament light chain (NfL) — a marker of nerve cell damage — in children and adolescents with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) are significantly higher than those of age-matched healthy peers and associate with disease severity, a study found. NfL blood levels also reliably reflect levels in…