Now Available: Tetrabenazine to Treat Chorea
Xenazine* (tetrabenazine) Tablets, the first and only U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved drug for the treatment of chorea associated with Huntington’s disease, is now available in the United States. This news marks a true milestone for the patients, families and health care professionals who have fought to help bring this therapy to the U.S. Xenazine will be distributed through a specialty pharmacy by Ovation Pharmaceuticals beginning today.
Click here to read HDF’s complete statement
Click here for more information about the availability of Xenazine* (tetrabenazine) Tablets
* Xenazine is a registered trademark of Cambridge Laboratories (Ireland) Limited.
Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) Passes in Senate Read the full press release here.
FDA Approval: Tetrabenazine to Treat Chorea
FDA advisory committee votes unanimously to recommend approval of tetrabenazine for chorea associated with Huntington's disease. This marks the first time in history that a drug could be approved in the U.S. to treat chorea associated with HD! Thank you all for your efforts and support!
Hereditary Disease President Nancy Wexler to Receive Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science! Read the full press release here.
Advocacy Groups as Research
Organizations — HDF praised as an example of an organization
that helps to accelerate the process of taking basic science
to treatments and techniques. [.pdf
version]
HDF Trustee Herb Pardes, President
of New York-Presbyterian Healthcare System, featured in
January 7, 2007 New
York Times article.
Carrie
Fisher Article, NY Times: "Comedic Postscripts From
The Edge", November 15, 2006.
Carrie
Fisher Article, Playbill: "Another Round: Carrie
Fisher's Wishful Drinking Extends Run in L.A.",
November 27, 2006.
Strategy to Find a Cure For Huntingtonâs Disease, Long-Supported
by Hereditary Disease Foundation, Is Validated by Nobel
Prize!
Congratulations
to Andrew Z. Fire and Craig C. Mello,
Scientists Who Discovered RNA Interference
Awarded 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine!In October, Fire and Mello were awarded the Nobel Prize for their discovery of an efficient and generalizable method for selectively turning off the expression of any gene in the nematode worm C. elegans. The method is known as RNA interference or RNAi. Fire and Mello published their groundbreaking discovery in the journal Nature in February of 1998. Since that time, RNAi has been shown to be an effective method for turning off the expression of genes in a wide variety of plant and animal species, including humans. The RNAi technique is now widely used in academic and industrial research laboratories to study the function of genes and plans are underway to develop RNAi-based treatments for a wide variety of diseases, including Huntingtonâs disease (HD).
Spurred by the excitement generated by Fire and Melloâs
discovery, the Hereditary Disease Foundation began to
organize, champion and support the development of gene-based
therapy for HD and continues to be a leader in providing
funding for RNAi research.
Nancy Wexler awarded honorary doctorate from Yale University,
May 22, 2006. [.pdf
version]
HDF Trustee and friend Donald H. Fritts
passed away at his home in Bakersfield on Thursday, May 4 ,2006.
A former publisher of The Bakersfield Californian, Don had been ill
with Huntington's disease for many years."
"Gentleman Publisher Dies" |
Thursday, May 4 2006
The Bakersfield Californian | Thursday, May 4 2006
The Bakersfield Californian | Friday, May 5 2006
Don Fritts' Obituary
"Prejudice in a portrayal of Huntington's disease" - a review by
Nancy S. Wexler and Michael D. Rawlins of Ian McEwan's novel Saturday. [.pdf
version]
Architect Frank Gehry presented his design for a new Alzheimer's research center
in Las Vegas -
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Architect
Frank Gehry presented his design for a new Alzheimer's research center in Las
Vegas on Saturday, unveiling an uneven stack of blocks anchoring a swooping
trellis made of Gehry's signature contorted steel. (Las Vegas Sun, 11 Feb 2006)
- [.pdf version]
Architect
Frank Gehry spoke at SfN about how his work progresses
from ideas to finished buildings.
(BrainWork, November/December 2006) - [.pdf
version]
Architect
Frank Gehry's plan for a retail, residential and entertainment
complex: opportunities and challenges LOS
ANGELES (AP) Grand
Avenue Project (The New York Times, Sun, 1 Jan 2007) -
[.pdf version]
Alden
Blethen lived a full life despite ravages of disease
- When friends and family remember Alden "Buster"
Blethen, they don't talk of the man who was bedridden
by a debilitating disease; they talk of the man who lived
life to the fullest, who bore no bitterness from the ravages
of his disease.
Mr. Blethen died Thursday from Huntington's disease, an
inherited neurological disorder. He was 55. ...
Academy Elects 225th Class of Fellows and Foreign Honorary Members
Class Includes Scholars, Scientists, Artists, Civic, Corporate and Philanthropic Leaders, Cambridge, MA, April 26, 2005
- The American Academy of Arts and Sciences today announced the election of 196 new Fellows and 17 new Foreign Honorary Members. The 213 men and women are leaders in scholarship, business, the arts, and public affairs.
[
Full article in
.PDF ]
Book Review: Prejudice in a
portrayal of Huntingtonās disease
- "Saturday", Ian McEwan. Jonathan Cape, 2005. Pp 288.
£17į99. ISBN 0-224-07299-4. "McEwan sadly reinforces the stigma and
stereotypes
from which families with Huntingtonās disease suffer, and which make them hide
both their inheritance and
their destiny.” -- Nancy S Wexler, Michael D Rawlins, www.thelancet.com Vol 366
September 24, 2005
[ Full article in
.PDF ]
Nancy Wexler Featured on NPRās All Things Considered:
New York, New York
May 16, 2004 “Reading Genes for Disease, Part 3: Huntington's Researcher's Work Led to Genetic
Test and Family Dilemma”
Cover
story: Special report: The elixir of life
- May 25, 2003 - TIMES
ONLINE of London - These
microscopic white dots are called RNA. We all possess
them; they are part of the DNA puzzle unravelled by Crick
and Watson 50 years ago. But only now has a chance experiment
to produce a petunia with more colourful petals revealed
their potential - the incredible power to eradicate genetic
disease and even the scalpel. By John Cornwell
Huntington's Disease:
Historical and Contemporary Connections -
Winter 2003 (pg 24), P&S - The
College of Physicians & Surgeons of Columbia University - In the 10 years that have passed since the discovery
of the gene that causes Huntingtonās disease÷the degenerative
neurological disorder characterized by cognitive, motor,
and behavioral impairments÷ Columbia has remained in the
vanguard.
Genes May Draw Your Road Map, but
You Still Chart Your Course - February 25, 2003, NY Times Science
- It's all in the genes." How many times have you heard that? Well, forget
it. It's not true, at least not for a vast majority of serious health problems
that beset people in this and other Western countries
How the Arms of the Helixes Are
Poised to Serve - February 25, 2003, NY Times Science - Mary
Nathan's life was saved, but Carlos Urrutia learned he faced a premature death.
Bonnie Davis received the assurance she needed to have another child, but Amy
Hefner got news that might keep her from having another. Ray Krone was freed
after 10 years in prison for a crime he did not commit; Mack Reaves III was
convicted of a crime he committed 10 years earlier.
Voices on DNA - February 25,
2003, NY Times Science - Researchers and others tell how DNA's discovery,
and the decades of genetic research that followed, affected their work and
lives.
A Revolution at 50; NANCY S. WEXLER -
February 25, 2003, NY Times Science - She is a professor of neuropsychology at Columbia. Driven by Huntington's disease in her family, Dr. Wexler led the effort to identify the gene that causes it. She has never said whether she has been tested for the gene.
The Pioneers of Molecular
Biology: Nancy Wexler - February 09, 2003, Time The DNA Revolution
- At risk for Huntington's disease herself, this scientist
has made unraveling its mysteries her life's work
Major Advances in Huntington's Disease
Research Expected From Powerful Technology to Study Protein Structure - December 04, 2002 - The Hereditary Disease Foundation
(HDF) and Structural GenomiX, Inc. (SGX) today announced a collaboration agreement to investigate the structure of
huntingtin, the protein responsible for Huntingtonās disease.
Yale Scientist Named Dean of Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
-
Susan Hockfield, a member of our Scientific Advisory Board, has been named dean of the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has today decided to award The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 2002 jointly to: - October 07, 2002 - Sydney Brenner, H. Robert Horvitz and John E. Sulston for their discoveries concerning "genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death."
Gillian Bates, M.Sc, Ph.D - September 7, 2001 - Former Hereditary Disease Foundation, Science Advisory Board Memeber, Gillian Bates, M.Sc, Ph.D was recently awarded the K.J. Zulch-Prize by the Max-Planck-Society for her research on Huntington's disease.
WFN unanimously passes articles on Human Rights and Biomedicine - September 6, 2001 - Participants at the 19th International Meeting of the World Federation of Neurology Research Group on Huntington's Disease, voted unanimously to pass several articles from the Council of Europe's Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine: Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine.
H. Robert Horvitz, Ph.D., - August 30, 2001 - Hereditary Disease Foundation, Science Advisory Board Memeber, H. Robert Horvitz, Ph.D., Receives The Bristol-Myers Squibb Award For Distinguished Achievement In Neuroscience Research.
The Hereditary Disease Foundation Partners with Aurora Biosciences for Therapeutic Drug Discovery. September 12, 2000. Read this PDF file about some questions and answers.
A Tale of Pain and Hope on Lake Maracaibo. Business Week Article, May 29, 2000. Details HD in Venezuela & HDF President Nancy Wexler's HD Project.
[.PDF]
In Memoriam, John B. Penney, Jr. M.D. - January
31, 1999 |
