Publications

Although each individual rare disease is obviously a rare occurrence, a relatively large number of people are affected by rare diseases since some 8,000 of these are already known. In Switzerland, for example, this concerns some 580,000 people – the same as the number of people suffering from diabetes in this country. In addition to an interview with a doctor and a profile of a sufferer, the brochure addresses the framework conditions for the development of drugs to combat rare diseases and, taking a few examples of rare diseases such as Niemann-Pick, hairy cell leukaemia and porphyria, shows where progress has been made and where the need for further research exists. The brochure was produced in collaboration with ProRaris – the Swiss Alliance for Rare Diseases.