Disease Awareness

PatientsLikeMe and Shire plc have announced a new collaboration that will support the development of a patient-centered, real world health learning system that expands understanding of patient health and disease.

Across the U.S., there is a significant shortage of medical geneticists. With only one geneticist for every 600,000 individuals, the U.S. has less than half of the genetic workforce it needs. As an issue directly related to our business, we announced a $1.65 million grant to the ACMG Foundation for Genetic and Genomic Medicine. The ACMG Foundation is a non-profit organization that works to attract and fund training for the next generation of medical geneticists and genetic counselors. The Foundation also sponsors important research, and promotes information about medical genetics.

Poor housing conditions can negatively impact the health of those inside – especially children.

National Breast Cancer Foundation is proud to announce that through its partnership with Kimberly-Clark, the makers of Cottonelle® bath tissue, and the generosity of the members at Sam’s Club, $50,000 was raised for the foundation during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Glovax Biotech Corp., an integrated distributor and retailer of vaccines in the Philippines, has joined Business Call to Action (BCtA) with a commitment to provide 40 million vaccine doses to the country’s medium- and low-income communities by 2020, reducing the cost of vaccinations by 75 percent and preventing countless disease outbreaks.

It can take longer to diagnose rare diseases than many common diseases. On average, rare disease diagnosis takes 7.6 years in the U.S. and 5.6 years in the UK. Rare diseases such as the primary immunodeficiency (PI) disorders Gaucher disease, Fabry disease, and Hunter syndrome can be devastating, as they are difficult to detect and equally difficult to treat.

After more than six decades of fighting the spread of trachoma in Morocco, on November 14, 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) acknowledged that the Moroccan government eliminated the world’s leading infectious cause of blindness as a public health problem.