Yesterday, Asphalion’s values (commitment flexibility passion and teamwork) were demonstrated in a 17 km hike organized and walked by members of the company who traveled with family & friends from our offices in Barcelona to Sant Cugat del Vallès. This activity was planned as part of the activities that were programmed by La Marató de TV3 in 2019, whose annual focus is on Rare Diseases.
Rare Diseases are diseases that affect at most 5 people in 10,000. These diseases vary greatly in their nature but all of them are serious, chronic, progressive and disabling. Currently, some 7,000 rare diseases have now been described and most of them, approximately 80%, are genetic.
According to the experts, great advances have been made in treating and curing many of these rare diseases. To do so, it is very important to be able to detect them at birth and start the appropriate treatment immediately. Currently all babies born in maternity hospitals in Catalonia are given a neonatal test that includes rare diseases. If the test detects any of them in the child, the medical teams proceed to start the treatment that can cure them or curb their development. In the last few years research in gene therapy has advanced greatly. There is still a long way to go but, thanks to research, the experts say that in the coming years a lot will be learned about treating and curing even more diseases.
As a scientific & regulatory company, Asphalion is involved in many projects related to the investigation of orphan drugs, defined as medicinal products developed for the treatment of a rare diseases. Our Scientific and Regulatory Affairs team is passionate and dedicated, supporting organizations throughout the regulatory pathway to obtain the Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) status. Health Agencies run ODD programs to provide a special status to drugs and biologics that could be used for treating, preventing or diagnosing a rare and serious condition. This status provides benefits for a fee reduction or exemption, protocol assistance, access to research grants and 10-year market exclusivity, incentives that allow medicines with low/small commercialization profit to be in the market under normal conditions, and thus yielding an overall benefit for society.
Yesterday, we reinforced our commitment to the development of new treatments for rare diseases.
We do not only promote our values, we live by them!
