Novartis calls for global effort to tackle rare diseases

Novartis has marked Rare Disease Day 2014 last week by issuing a call for global collaboration to lessen the burden of uncommon conditions worldwide.

The event took place on February 28th and is an annual international awareness-raising initiative coordinated globally by EURORDIS and the US National Organization for Rare Disorders. It provided Novartis with an opportunity to highlight the necessity of a global exchange of ideas to deepen understanding of rare diseases and address a significant unmet medical need.

An acknowledged leader in this sector, the firm will be sponsoring and hosting the RE(ACT) Congress 2014, the second international conference on research of rare and orphan diseases, at its Basel Campus from March 5th to 8th.

It will also continue to foster collaborations with biotechnology companies and academic centres worldwide, with alliances with more than 300 partners currently in place.

Dr Mark Fishman, president of the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, said: "We continue to look for new ways to combine our own scientific knowledge and expertise with that of the rest of the research community to find the shortest path to new treatments for rare diseases."

Last week, the company also announced that it will be sharing information on its clinical studies through the ideaPoint portal, as part of wider industry efforts to increase the transparency of drug research practices.