YourDNA and Cure Rare Disease Announce Partnership to Increase Awareness for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (and More)

– CureRareDisease.org brings together researchers and clinicians to
develop customized therapeutics applied to Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
and other rare diseases

– YourDNA.com is building a vibrant consumer-friendly education resource
for information about the latest genomic advancements, and the people
and companies on the front line of advancements in this exciting field

SAN DIEGO & BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–YourDNA.com and Cure Rare Disease, a non-profit biotechnology company,
today announced an ongoing initiative to collectively help increase
access to the latest research and developments in the fight to help
patients afflicted with rare genetic disorders.

The initiative is a collaboration from two groups on a mission to
increase awareness of the prevalence of rare diseases in the United
States, and the treatment options available to those afflicted.

With 7,000 currently identified rare diseases – classified as those
diseases that affect fewer than 200,000 people – it is estimated that nearly
1 in 10 Americans is living with a rare disease.

A rise in consumer genetic testing has led many Americans to seek
insights about what additional useful information might be gleaned from
one’s personal genetics. As is often the case with emerging technology,
this has given rise to ill-founded, unsubstantiated and irresponsible
claims about what is possible today.

There are, however, important and serious aspects to the emerging
genomic journey that will benefit all humankind and it is at this
intersection that YourDNA
and Cure Rare Disease hope to inform and advance the understanding of
the state-of-the-art in developments.

To that end, Cure
Rare Disease (CRD) founder Rich Horgan, a Blavatnik Life Science
Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Harvard Business School, created CRD to
answer his own personal relationship to Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
(DMD).

Horgan’s family has experienced three generations afflicted with the
disease, and his brother is currently fighting DMD. Rich, together with
some of the top researchers in the field of genomics including Dr.
Timothy Yu, Dr. Louis Kunkel, Dr. Monkol Lek and others, are in a race
to develop a therapeutic to beat DMD. Importantly, through this quest,
researchers have discovered the genetic traits exhibited by DMD are also
present in a handful of other rare diseases, giving hope that their work
will yield positive outcomes for many more patient groups.

For more on the partnership and to view the powerful story behind CRD’s
mission with Duchenne’s, visit YourDNA.com/CRD.

YourDNA

YourDNA rests at the intersection of two colliding trends, healthcare
becoming more searchable by and accessible to the mass market, and
genomic science beginning to deliver on the promise of precision
medicine to future generations. We like to think of YourDNA as a place
where real people meet genomics in order to learn about themselves. The
company is a subsidiary of Aspect Health Inc. and is based in San Diego,
California.

More at www.yourdna.com

Cure Rare Disease

Cure Rare Disease, a non-profit organization based in Boston,
Massachusetts, is forging collaborations with leading researchers &
clinicians to develop customized therapeutics with unparalleled speed.
The process is being applied in a range of rare, genetic disorders
including but not limited to the following disorders: Muscular
dystrophies (Duchenne, Limb-girdle, Becker’s), Charcot-Marie-Tooth,
cystic fibrosis, Sickle Cell disease, Canavan disease and spinal
muscular atrophy.

More at www.cureraredisease.org

Contacts

Nathaniel Broughton
[email protected]
314-620-7046