The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced it has awarded 15 grants totaling more than $19 million to boost the development of medical device, drug, and biological products for patients with rare diseases, with at least a quarter of the funding going to studies focused solely on pediatrics.

The FDA awards grants for clinical studies on safety and/or effectiveness of products that could either result in, or substantially contribute to, approval of the products.

The FDA is in a unique position to help those who suffer from rare diseases by offering several important incentives to promote the development of products for rare diseases, one of which is this grants program, said Gayatri R. Rao, M.D., director of the FDAs Office of Orphan Product Development. The grants awarded this year support much-needed research in difficult-to-treat diseases that have little, or no, available treatment options.

The program is administered through the FDAs Orphan Products Grants Program. This program was created by the Orphan Drug Act, passed in 1983, to promote the development of products for rare diseases. Since its inception, the program has given more than $330 million to fund more than 530 new clinical studies on developing treatments for rare diseases and has been used to bring more than 50 products to marketing approval.

A panel of independent experts with experience in the disease-related fields reviewed the grant applications and made recommendations to the FDA.

The 2014 grant recipients are:

For the grants program therapies, a disease or condition is considered rare if it affects less than 200,000 persons in the United States. There are about 7,000 rare diseases and conditions, according to the National Institutes of Health. In total, nearly 30 million Americans suffer from at least one rare disease.

The FDA, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, protects the public health by assuring the safety, effectiveness, and security of human and veterinary drugs, vaccines and other biological products for human use, and medical devices. The agency also is responsible for the safety and security of our nations food supply, cosmetics, dietary supplements, products that give off electronic radiation, and for regulating tobacco products.

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FDA awards grants to stimulate drug, device development for rare diseases