Therachon Supports Rare Disease Day And Joins Global Movement To Raise Important Awareness For Rare Diseases

BASEL, Switzerland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Therachon AG, a biotechnology company focused on rare genetic diseases, has joined forces with health care advocates around the world for Rare Disease Day® on February 28. Rare Disease Day is an annual awareness day dedicated to elevating public understanding of rare diseases and calling attention to the special challenges people face.

“At Therachon, we are constantly looking for the opportunity to support and offer our commitment to those fighting a plethora of devastating and life threatening rare diseases”

“At Therachon, we are constantly looking for the opportunity to support and offer our commitment to those fighting a plethora of devastating and life threatening rare diseases,” said Dr. Luca Santarelli, M.D., Chief Executive Officer and Director. “It is our life’s work to ensure that rare diseases, like achondroplasia, are recognized and receive the same amount of research as other disease states. We believe that this year’s ‘Patient Involvement in Research’ theme represents the continuous need for ongoing research and groundbreaking drug development in all rare diseases and we look forward to working with patient groups in the achondroplasia community.”

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the U.S., a disease is rare if it affects fewer than 200,000 people. Achondroplasia is an autosomal dominant disorder characterized by dwarfism and disproportionate shortness of limbs, accompanied by life-altering complications. This rare disease affects approximately 1 in 25,000 live births.

Rare Disease Day takes place every year on the last day of February (February 28 or February 29 in a leap year)—the rarest date on the calendar—to underscore the nature of rare diseases and what patients face. It was established in Europe in 2008 by EURORDIS, the organization representing rare disease patients in Europe, and is now observed in more than 80 nations. Rare Disease Day is sponsored in the U.S. by the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD)®, the largest and leading independent, nonprofit organization committed to the identification, treatment, and cure of rare diseases.

For more information about Rare Disease Day go to http://www.rarediseaseday.org/. To search for information about rare diseases, visit NORD’s website, www.rarediseases.org.

About Therachon

Therachon is a global biotechnology company focused on developing medicines for rare, genetic diseases that currently have no available treatments. The company’s lead pipeline candidate, TA-46, is a novel protein therapy in development for achondroplasia, the most common form of short-limbed dwarfism. This rare genetic condition affects about one in 25,000 children and is caused by a genetic mutation of the FGFR3 receptor, which stunts child bone growth. Therachon is committed to translating the promise of its science into new treatments for patients with high unmet medical needs. For more information, visit www.therachon.com.

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