UPenn receives a $10 million donation to study mesothelioma and other rare diseases

(Mesothelioma & Asbestos Awareness Center)- The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia has received an anonymous donation for the sum of $10 million, which it will use to the Penn Center for Orphan Disease Research and Therapy.  The new center will focus on discovering novel treatments for rare diseases.  There are a nearly 7,000 rare diseases, yet only 200 of them currently have any effective treatments.

Mesothelioma, a cancer of the protective lining of the lungs, heart, chest and abdomen that is caused exclusively by prolonged asbestos exposure, is considered an orphan disease.  Like so many of these diseases there is no known cure, and current therapies are palliative rather than curative.  What makes malignant mesothelioma so difficult to treat is the fact that it doesn’t become symptomatic until it reaches stage three or four.  By that time, standard mesothelioma treatment, which includes some combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, only tends to add between six months to a year to a patient’s life expectancy. Read more here…