Kyrgyzstan draws up list of orphan (rare) diseases

Kyrgyzstan has drawn up a list of orphan (rare) diseases. Press service of the Government reported.
The Government has for the first time developed measures to increase the availability of medicines for treatment of rare diseases.
"Many rare diseases are genetic and accompany a person throughout life, even if the symptoms do not appear immediately. Many rare diseases occur in childhood, and about 30 percent of children with rare diseases do not live up to five years old. However, there is no single level of incidence of a disease in the population at which it is considered to be rare. A disease can be rare in one part of the world or among a group of people, but it is often found in other regions or among other groups of people," the press service stressed.
The Government outlined that the country's legislation provided for inclusion of orphan drugs into a special list of medicines temporarily allowed for import and medical use without registration. An expert group of the Ministry of Health has been set up, which has developed the list. It includes 41 diseases. The main criterion for inclusion is 10 cases of a disease per 100,000 people.