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Rare diseases are more common than you think. Some of these are genetic-related such as haemophilia, Pompe disease, and muscular dystrophy, to name a few. Early intervention is important for rare disease patients but sadly, many affected are still facing the difficulty of getting accurate diagnosis timely. Yet, only 5% of 7,000 rare diseases have treatment approved by FDA.
Shire is one of the companies in Asia Pacific that provides therapies for patients with rare and threatening diseases, supporting campaigns to improve diagnosis on rare diseases and developing disease awareness and diagnosis programmes with patient organizations. The company has a state-of-the-art manufacturing site for its haematological pipelines in Singapore. On the other hand, ASEAN+ Rare Disease Network has been set up by several rare disease patient groups in ASEAN countries and Hong Kong. You can learn more about these stories in the Features section.
In Spotlights, this issue features Professor Jackie Y. Ying, the Executive Director at Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) in Singapore; and Dr Tran Thanh Huong, who shared with us some efforts on cancer control and care carried out in Vietnam. APBN also exclusively interviewed three of the young TR Innovators under 35, gaining more understanding on their bright ideas and innovations.
We hope you learn something new and have a great time reading our magazine.
Thank you.
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