Author Archives: Ana de Barros PhD

The Scottish region of Fife has launched one of the world’s first local care frameworks for Huntington’s disease, putting local staff and families at the forefront of work to help those with this neurodegenerative disease. The launch, at Victoria Hospital, saw families affected by Huntington’s join health and social…

“You Me Everything,” a novel about a single mom whose mother is diagnosed with Huntington’s disease, is helping to raise awareness of the condition. The story is also drawing attention to the struggles of patients and their loved ones. In writing the novel, British author Catherine Isaac sought…

A Rare Conditions Care Value (RCCV) program providing second opinions from experts for patients with rare diseases like Huntington’s disease was launched recently by two U.S. health management companies, Express Scripts and Pinnacle Care. The program, aptly named “Second Opinion,” offers another assessment regarding diagnosis and disease treatment from a specialist in the field,…

AllianceRx Walgreens Prime and Walgreens now have several new limited distribution therapies available for its specialty patients, including Teva Pharmaceuticals’ Austedo (deutetrabenazine) for Huntington’s disease. Austedo was approved in 2017 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a treatment for chorea associated with…

For Huntington’s Disease Awareness Week, the Huntington’s Disease Association in the U.K. has a few suggestions for ways to bring the community together and educate others. Because Huntington’s is a rare disease, few are fully aware of its symptoms and signs. Advocates want to use occasions such as this to educate the…

Three organizations fighting neurodegenerative diseases have teamed up to challenge researchers around the world to come up with new treatment approaches for central nervous system (CNS) disorders. The Huntington’s Disease Society of America (HDSA), the ALS Association, and Teva Pharmaceuticals have launched the crowdsourcing effort, called the …

MMJ BioScience received a licence from Health Canada to develop cannabis-derived products based on proprietary formulations for the treatment of Huntington’s disease and multiple sclerosis (MS). The license will enable MMJ to extract active pharmaceutical ingredients from the cannabis plant to manufacture gelcap medications and supply pharmaceutical-grade medicines for…

The Huntington’s Disease Society of America (HDSA) recently announced that 43 Huntington’s disease (HD) care facilities are now designated as HDSA Centers of Excellence for 2018 — up from 41 centers last year. HDSA started with only 20 Centers of Excellence across the United States in 2015,…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently granted orphan drug status to Emerald Health’s EHP-102, an investigative therapy for Huntington’s disease. EHP-102 is a patented cannabigerol (CBG) derivative in development for the treatment of Huntington’s and Parkinson’s disease. CBG is a natural cannabinoid with potent effects that has been…

Wave Life Sciences and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company are teaming up to develop nucleic acid therapies for central nervous system disorders such as Huntington’s disease. The agreement gives Takeda the option of co-developing and co-commercializing Huntington’s therapies and of licensing Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s treatments. The deal also allows Wave…