Orphan Drugs: A Thematic View

Abstract

Orphan diseases are all medical conditions that impact 0.65 to 1 out of every 1000 people, according to the World Health Organization. Since these are not financially stable and feasible, they are typically not explored for their pathophysiology or the emerging therapy alternatives. On January 28, 1983, in the USA a law known as the Orphan Drug Act was formed to promote the study, creation, and approval of medications for rare diseases. There are currently as many medications for other infectious diseases as there are for tropical infectious diseases, with 11 pharmaceuticals (4.87%) recognized as orphan drugs. Several medications having orphan status are used to treat illnesses that no longer meet the requirements for orphan designation. Some businesses also manufacture and produce orphan medications. Nuclear cloning, rational drug design, and high throughput screening are all methods used in drug discovery programs that could lead to the development of new medicines. This article discusses orphan drugs, medical orphans, rare diseases, the orphan drug act, orphan drug design, the global market scenario of orphan drugs and various databases that contain information about orphan drugs. Patients who have been ignored by for-profit medication discovery efforts have hope for the future.