Hal Foster,  —

Rare diseases deeply affect not only the children who experience them, but also their healthy brothers and sisters, as their parents can attest.    Two entries in November’s “Disorder: The Rare Disease Film Festival” will focus on what siblings go through, according to the San Francisco festival’s co-founder,…

Jeffrey Leiden, who in seven years has taken Vertex Pharmaceuticals to the cusp of developing treatments for about 90% of people with cystic fibrosis (CF), is exchanging his day-to-day leadership role as CEO for an elder statesman position. Leiden — who finished high school at 15, earned…

It wasn’t until Gordana Loleska’s son David was 14 years old that doctors in their native North Macedonia diagnosed his kidney, vision, and hearing problems as Alport syndrome. Although she had known for years that something was wrong, the news that David would battle a lifelong rare disease devastated…

Europe’s umbrella organization for 800 rare disease associations has developed a sweeping initiative to help the continent’s 30 million rare disease patients and their caregivers learn about their conditions, find assistance and receive treatment. Eurordis-Rare Diseases Europe hopes to improve the current piecemeal treatment and support program with a holistic,…

People with rare diseases know that the right government policies can make a big difference in the quality of their own lives, and those of their caregivers. But most lawmakers aren’t experts in even one well-known disease — let alone the world’s estimated 7,000 rare disorders. So how does the…

Warning: Spoilers for the movie are contained in this story.  Mention a rare disease milestone — and a new approach to treatment, a new medicine, or even a cure comes to mind. March 15, though, marks a milestone of a different sort for cystic fibrosis (CF) patients: the debut of…