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For Patients & Families

Home / For Patients & Families
Patient engaged in FSHD Researchg

To crack the code of FSHD, patients are absolutely essential

All of the breakthroughs—the discovery of the genetic causes, understanding why some patients vary so greatly in the severity of their symptoms, teasing out the biochemical pathways that could point to future treatments—were made because patients stepped up to the plate.

Too often, we hear patients say they’ll volunteer when there’s a treatment. But we will never get to a treatment unless patients participate in fundamental research now. FSHD is uniquely human, so no laboratory mouse can ever fully model the disease. The genetic “package” that causes FSHD is found only in people. We owe an enormous debt to the patients who give DNA samples. Who submit to long interviews and exhausting physical tests. Allow a surgeon to cut out a small muscle sample. Who fight claustrophobia to lie in the narrow bore of an MRI machine.

Equally important are patients’ family members, both affected and unaffected, who provide the best experimental controls because of their shared genetic and environmental backgrounds. A parent or sibling who has very mild symptoms may hold the key to understanding the factors that protect against the full-blown development of FSHD symptoms in a more severely affected family member.

We are more hopeful today than ever before that a treatment is within sight. We cannot guarantee when that treatment will arrive, but here’s one thing we guarantee: If you volunteer for research, your participation will without question help move us a step closer to that day.

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Scientific Overview of FSHD

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Glossary of Scientific Terms

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European FSHD patients speak out

February 28, 2023

To coincide with World Rare Disease Day FSHD Patients across Europe say what they want from clinical trials Announcement by FSHD Europe FSHD Europe is pleased to publish the Lay… Read More »

Vita Therapeutics logo

Vita Therapeutics seeks volunteers

February 23, 2023

Participate in a research study on a muscle regenerating treatment for FSHD Vita Therapeutics is a cell engineering company harnessing the power of genetics to develop cellular medicines in the… Read More »

Avidity gets orphan drug designation

February 16, 2023

Avidity Biosciences announced this week that it had received FDA Orphan Drug Designation for its experimental FSHD treatment, called AOC 1020. This does NOT mean the drug is now available… Read More »

Avidity Biosciences Announcement

FDA Fast Track Designation for Avidity’s FSHD therapeutic

January 20, 2023

What does this mean for patients? An FDA Fast Track designation DOES NOT mean that the drug has been approved for use by patients. AOC 1020 is still a long… Read More »

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