Rare and Orphan Diseases

Health

Key Takeaways

Rare diseases, are classified as any disease that affects less than 200,000 Americans. Orphan diseases, including rare diseases, are neglected conditions whose treatments are often not considered profitable due to their cost to develop and limited patient population.
The Institute of Medicine’s 2010 report on rare diseases and orphan products outlines four potential causes for rare diseases: genetic, Infectious agents, toxic agents, other causes.

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In the United States, more than 7,000 rare diseases collectively affect more than 25 million Americans. Rare diseases, are classified as any disease that affects less than 200,000 Americans. Orphan diseases, including rare diseases, are neglected conditions whose treatments are often not considered profitable due to their cost to develop and limited patient population.

Orphan and rare diseases include more familiar conditions such as cystic fibrosis, Lou Gehrig’s disease and Tourette’s syndrome, as well as less familiar conditions such as Duncan’s Syndrome, Madelung’s disease and acromegaly/gigantism. The prevalence of rare diseases is often an estimate and may change over time. These conditions are complex and often not well understood, causing many patients to encounter greater challenges in being properly diagnosed or having access to effective treatments.

Potential causes

While most rare diseases are genetic in origin, many causes are not well understood. Even if the cause of a rare disease is identified, researchers may still not understand how the disease functions or how to properly treat it. The Institute of Medicine’s 2010 report on rare diseases and orphan products outlines four potential causes for rare diseases:

Genetic causes: 80% or more of rare diseases are genetic in origin. Sometimes one gene (as in alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency) or multiple genes (as in Williams-Beuren syndrome) contribute to manifestations of the disorder. They can be inherited or arise in sporadic or chance mutations.
Infectious agents: Some infections are thought to be rare worldwide, while others are rare in wealthy countries but common in less economically developed countries. Tuberculosis, for example, was common in wealthy countries before preventative measures and treatments were discovered and widely applied, but remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality in developing countries. Infectious diseases can be rare but well publicized and feared (such as rabies, botulism and Rocky Mountain spotted fever), while others are truly obscure (such as Lemierre syndrome).
Toxic agents: Exposure to natural or manufactured toxic substances can also cause rare diseases. For example, mesothelioma is a cancer typically caused by exposure to asbestos. Many types of poisoning could be listed as rare conditions, but often are not. Toxic substances causing disease such as cadmium, chromium and phosphine are handled by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) and marine toxins caused by harmful algae blooms that may contaminate food are tracked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Other causes: Rare conditions have a variety of other causes such as nutritional deficiencies, injuries, adverse effects of treatment and many others.

Financial Strain

Financial strain from orphan and rare diseases can affect both patients and their caregivers. The diagnosis process can be time-consuming and expensive. Medications developed specifically to treat orphan and rare diseases can cost families tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. Many rare conditions are diagnosed in childhood and continue to affect individuals for decades. Orphan drugs tend to have more coverage restrictions than non-orphan drugs, leading to higher per-unit price. Under Medicaid Part D, 85% of plans covered orphan drugs, which were placed in the highest cost-sharing tier, only covering 25 to 33% of the full cost of the drug.

Lost productivity, lost wages or lack of manageable work with crucial benefits can impact individuals living with a rare disease. Caregivers experience financial impacts from caring for patients with rare diseases, with 86% reporting that they cut back on household savings, did not save for long-term goals, used personal savings and took on more personal debt.

Additional barriers to accessing adequate health care services and treatment options exist for patients and their caregivers. These include lower income (placing them at higher risk of negative financial impacts), limited transportation (making access to health care more challenging) and lack of access to support services such as qualified medical providers that understand rare diseases. Only 27% of caregivers stated that they felt their local hospital could handle their patient’s condition.

Diagnosis and Treatment

Patients with orphan and rare diseases often seek treatment in clinics where the condition has never been seen before, and absent, masked, misunderstood or confused symptoms can contribute to delayed diagnosis. For one-third of individuals with a rare disease, it can take between one and five years to receive a proper diagnosis.

Early detection, diagnosis and intervention is critical to prevent death or disability for many orphan and rare diseases. Half of all patients diagnosed with a rare disease are children, and as many as three in ten children with a rare disease will not live to see their fifth birthday. Newborn screening, routinely provided to 4.1 million babies each year in the United States, can identify genetic, endocrine and metabolic disorders. Each year, 4,000 babies are diagnosed as having a congenital disorder, and approximately 1,000 go undetected. The Recommended Uniform Screening Panel (RUSP) includes 35 core conditions and 26 secondary conditions. Each state decides which conditions to include in its newborn screening program; most include those listed in the RUSP. Ten states introduced legislation in 2019 requiring screening for certain diseases, determining cost feasibility of screening for additional diseases and expanding coverage of screening under Medicaid, and many others have already enacted legislation on newborn screening.

Orphan and rare disease treatments range in effectiveness from curing the disease, modifying how the disease functions or treating the symptoms of the disease. Truly curative treatments are rare. Disease modifying therapies target the underlying pathology of a disease to prevent it from worsening. Symptomatic treatments seek to temper symptoms or maintain physical, emotional and mental functioning. Treatments may include medications, nutritional agents, surgical procedures, psychotherapy, physical and occupational therapy and medical devices. Examples include cardiac valve conduits that expand as a child grows to prevent repeated surgeries throughout their lifetime and nutrition and dietary supplement interventions to promote proper growth and development among patients with inborn errors of metabolism (IEM). Delays in the development, approval and availability of new drugs to treat orphan and rare diseases can have unintended consequences for patients. For example, treatments for spinal muscular atrophy are limited and must be administered to infants and children under 2 years old, which could mean the difference between life and death for patients.

Many patients with orphan and rare diseases require medical devices to diagnose and treat their conditions, such as genetic tests, pediatric implants that grow with a child and pediatric intrathecal ports for drug delivery. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences/Office of Rare Diseases Research reported that 917 clinicians cited unmet medical device needs in 2015, with many noting the need for entirely new diagnostic and therapeutic devices.

Federal Action

In 1983, Congress passed the Orphan Drug Act (ODA), which created financial incentives for drug and biologics manufacturers to research and develop treatments for orphan diseases. These include tax credits for the costs of clinical research, government grant funding, assistance for clinical research and a seven-year exclusive marketing period for the first sponsor of an orphan-designated product that obtains market approval from the FDA. Since the ODA passed, more than 250 orphan drugs have been developed and made available to more than 13 million Americans.

The FDA administers three programs to incentivize research and development of pharmaceuticals, biologics and medical equipment to treat rare diseases. The Orphan Drug Modernization Program was created to eliminate the FDA’s backlog of orphan drugs. The Rare Pediatric Disease Designation and Voucher Program awards priority review vouchers to sponsors of rare pediatric disease product applications. The Humanitarian Use Device Designation Program creates an alternative pathway for getting market approval for medical devices that may help people with rare diseases or conditions. Several bills were introduced in the 116^th Congress (2019-20) addressing the research and development of treatments, medication affordability and education and awareness of rare diseases.

Rare Diseases

Overview of Rare Diseases

Genetic and Rare Diseases Information Center database of rare conditions

Orphan Drug Products

Newborn Screening

Medical Devices

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Brief Rare and Orphan Diseases

Key Takeaways

Potential causes

Financial Strain

Diagnosis and Treatment

Federal Action

Contact NCSL

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