Siren Interactive Infographic Highlights Role of Rare Disease in Precision Medicine

CHICAGO - Feb. 27, 2015 - PRLog -- In honor of Rare Disease Day 2015, Siren Interactive, a Dohmen Company, has released an infographic (https://www.sireninteractive.com/rare-disease-and-precision-medicine-infographic) that explains how rare disease communities are playing a leadership role in the development of precision medicine, a trend which will have a profound impact on the future of healthcare.

Rare Disease Day (http://www.rarediseaseday.org/)  is February 28, 2015.  This international advocacy day brings widespread recognition of rare diseases as a global health challenge.  Siren’s infographic, We Are All Zebras: How Rare Disease Is Shaping the Future of Healthcare (https://www.sireninteractive.com/rare-disease-and-precision-medicine-infographic), explains why research into rare diseases and treatments is important not only to the patients and families impacted by the 7,000 different rare diseases with populations of less than 200,000 patients, but also to people affected by more common diseases.

“President Obama’s Precision Medicine Initiative (http://www.nih.gov/precisionmedicine), unveiled recently, includes a budget of $215 million of which $130 million will be used to create a database of genetics, biological samples and lifestyle information on 1 million Americans at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in order to identify new targets for treatment and prevention,” notes Wendy White, founder of Siren Interactive and Senior Vice President, Rare Disease of Dohmen Life Sciences Services.  “We are calling attention to the fact that in many ways, the rare disease community has laid the groundwork for precision medicine by sharing health data in patient registries, empowering patients to manage their own healthcare, collaborating with the FDA and other innovative techniques that have accelerated development of new targeted treatments.”

Like precision medicine, progress in rare diseases has been facilitated by:

Quantum leaps in our knowledge of genetics and epigenetics
Development of new technologies that handle large data sets with speed and agility
Rapid growth in the use of social media, apps and online tools to improve health and quality of life

“The zebra has become the symbol of the rare disease community because of an aphorism coined by Dr. Theodore Woodward in the 1940s,” White says. “To teach his medical interns how to narrow down their diagnoses, he told them, ‘When you hear hoofbeats, think of horses, not zebras.’ But as it turns out, we are all zebras when it comes to effective treatment.”

To view and share Siren's infographic, We Are All Zebras: How Rare Disease Is Shaping the Future of Healthcare (https://www.sireninteractive.com/rare-disease-and-precisi...)

About Rare Disease Day

Rare Disease Day was launched in Europe in 2008 by EURORDIS, the organization representing rare disease patients in Europe.  It is now observed in more than 65 nations and is sponsored in the US by the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD). The coalition supporting Rare Disease Day includes patient organizations, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other government entities, medical researchers, hospitals and academic institutions, and pharmaceutical companies developing treatments for rare diseases. For more information about Rare Disease Day activities in the US, go to rarediseaseday.us (http://www.rarediseaseday.us/). For information about global activities, go to rarediseaseday.org (http://www.rarediseaseday.org/).

About Dohmen Life Science Services
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