Our hearts go out to the family of Ethan Cox, a young boy in Cleveland who passed away from SJIA related complications over the holidays. His parents colleagues have organized a memorial fund in his honor, and have given generously. Please contribute if you can. Our mission is to find therapies so that tragedies like this don’t happen.
Archives for January 2017
Vamorolone: A steroid replacement with fewer side effects
Most SJIA kids whose disease is not controlled by biologic drugs take glucorticoid steroids of some kind (prednisone is the most common). Steroids work well in controlling inflammation, but come at a tremendous cost: stunted growth, fragile bones, cataracts, and weakened muscle are some of the side-effects. But we put up with it because the alternative of uncontrolled SJIA is worse.
Eric Hoffman, a researcher in another childhood disease (Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy), gave the keynote at our next-gen SJIA treatments conference in October. He is leading an effort at Reveragen to bring a steroid replacement called Vamorolone (generic name VBP15) to market. The goal of the drug is to replicate the good effects of steroids (primarily their anti-inflamatory effect) without the side effects.read more