BioPontis Alliance for Rare Diseases
BioPontis Alliance for Rare Diseases today announces receipt of a large three year donation from the prestigious Baillet Latour Fund (BLF) in Belgium. BioPontis Alliance has the mission to translate biomedical research into therapies for rare diseases, and underwent rigorous vetting from BLF’s high level Board and medical advisors. The funding is offered to BioPontis as part of BLF’s commitment to stimulating human excellence through seed funding of transformational ideas for societal improvement. The donation is also intended to encourage other funders to support BioPontis.
“More people are affected with a rare disease than all the HIV and cancer patients combined”, says BioPontis Board Chairperson, Erik Tambuyzer. “Remarkably, only 5% have any treatment, while new understanding of genetics and biology brings a watershed of discoveries and capabilities.” “We have an urgent mission to generate more therapies for these unrecognized patients, starting with rare diseases that affect the brain and nervous system,” added Jean-Jacques Cassiman, Board member at BioPontis.
BioPontis Alliance for Rare Diseases is a non-profit organization with a comprehensive model for generating new therapies from that science watershed – a bridge over a gap that separates ideas for cures found in academic research labs, from the biopharmaceutical companies who need more advanced prototype medicines as a starting point for their investments in therapies. The technical and business expertise needed to create those prototypes is what the BioPontis team provides.
“There are unique transformational designs inside BioPontis for which our Board is pleased to be a pioneering supporter. This has the promise to be a dramatic change mechanism to get more therapies to rare disease patients in Belgium, Europe and across the globe” says Jan Huyghebaert, Chairman of the Baillet Latour Fund.
The funding by BLF is enabling BioPontis to start work on developing a potential treatment for Charcot Marie Tooth disease, which is the organization’s first target disease program.
About Charcot Marie Tooth Disease
Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) is a rare inherited neurological disorder, affecting approximately 1 in 2,500 people. The disease is named for the three physicians who first identified it in 1886 – Jean-Martin Charcot and Pierre Marie in Paris, France, and Howard Henry Tooth in Cambridge, England. CMT comprises a group of disorders that affect peripheral nerves. The peripheral nerves lie outside the brain and spinal cord and supply the muscles and sensory organs in the limbs. There is currently no treatment for CMT.
About BioPontis Alliance for Rare Diseases
BioPontis Alliance for Rare Diseases is a 501c(3) public charity in the US (North Carolina) and a foundation of public utility (fup/son) in Belgium (Brussels). Managed by an international Board and executive team, BioPontis partners with patients’ organizations and clinical researchers to bridge the gap between promising science and new medicines. BioPontis Alliance for Rare Diseases is being established as a global non-profit, inviting corporate, private and foundation philanthropic support. More information, including how contributions to support our programs and mission can be made, at http://biopontisalliance.org.
From us: Following receipt of this press release, we got in touch with BioPontis and are hoping to partner with them on future research projects.