#222 Wilson’s Disease with Naseem Amin
39:48 Share

We are kicking off Rare Disease Month by talking about Wilson’s disease), a rare, inherited disorder that causes copper to accumulate in the liver, brain, and other vital organs. It is inherited in an autosomal recessive pattern and left untreated, Wilson’s disease can be fatal. Joining us for this episode is Naseem Amin, the CEO of Orphalan), which develops and commercializes treatments for orphan/rare diseases. In this episode we are exploring Wilson’s disease and the FDA-approved treatment, Cuvrior.

Naseem Amin) (he/him) joined Orphalan in 2017 bringing thirty years of international industry experience in Research and Development, Corporate and Business Development, Venture Capital and Marketing. Naseem previously served as Executive Chairman at Arix Bioscience Plc, listed on the LSE, Venture Partner at Advent Life Sciences, Chief Scientific Officer at Smith and Nephew, where he oversaw corporate R&D, divisional manufacturing, QA/QC and product development functions. Prior to Smith and Nephew, Naseem led the business development functions at both Biogen and Genzyme Therapeutics. For both companies, he initiated and executed a number of transformative acquisitions and transactions.

Naseem has also led the clinical development of five currently marketed therapeutic products. He started his career at Baxter Healthcare where he had executive roles in marketing, product development and clinical research. In addition to his role at Orphalan, Naseem currently serves as a board member and advisor to several not for profit organizations, and a publicly listed biotechnology company listed on the NASDAQ. Naseem is a qualified medical doctor, from the University College Medical School, London and has an MBA from Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

On This Episode We Discuss:

Differences in metabolism in individuals with Wilson’s disease (WD)

How an accumulation of copper affects the body and body systems that are most affected

How and when WD is diagnosed

Signs that someone may have WD

Pathogenic variants (mutations) that have been identified in the *ATP7B *gene

The number of people affected by WD

Current/standard treatment recommendations for people with WD and how Cuvrior differs from these treatments

When Cuvrior, now FDA-approved, is officially launching in the US

When it is appropriate for people with WD to start taking Cuvrior

Long-term studies and documented benefits of starting the medication earlier in life

To learn more about Wilson’s disease and find patient information, visit Orphalan's wesbite).

You can also learn more about Cuprior (the name of Cuvrior in Europe with EMA approval) here).

Stay tuned for the next new episode of DNA Today on February 10th! New episodes are released every Friday. In the meantime, you can binge over 220 other episodes on Apple Podcasts), Spotify), streaming on the website), or any other podcast player by searching, “DNA Today”. Episodes since 2021 are also recorded with video which you can watch on our YouTube channel).

DNA Today is hosted and produced by Kira Dineen. Our social media lead is Corinne Merlino. Our video lead is Amanda Andreoli. Our Outreach Intern is Sanya Tinaikar. Our Social Media Intern is Kajal Patel. And our Graphic Designer Ashlyn Enokian.

See what else we are up to on Twitter), Instagram), Facebook), YouTube) and our website, DNAToday.com). Questions/inquiries can be sent to [email protected]).

As a listener of DNA Today, you probably heard me talk about NIPT, non-invasive prenatal screening, that looks for extra or missing chromosome conditions during pregnancy. But did you know there is one that can also screen for recessive disorders (like cystic fibrosis) and fetal antigens? BillionToOne offers UNITY Screen, which does all this from one blood draw from a pregnant person. Visit unityscreen.com) for more info. And stay tuned for our upcoming episodes with BillionToOne exploring non-invasive prenatal screening for recessive conditions and red blood cell fetal antigens (Sponsored)

If you’ve been listening to DNA Today for a while, you probably know I am also a full time prenatal genetic counselor. Between that job, this podcast, and being a producer/host of other podcasts, I am pretty busy! To keep my energy up and stay productive I drink a decent amount of coffee. The new coffee I’m drinking is from Four Sigmatic. I’m really picky about my coffee, it’s got to be bold, not watery. And I’ve been really happy with Four Sigmatic. Here’s the difference from other coffees, it includes mushrooms, which I know sounds bizarre. I will admit I was hesitant, but you get health benefits and don’t taste it. I like the immune system boost, as I often get sick in the winter months. So we teamed up with Four SIgmatic to get you 30% off using promo code “DNATODAY” redeem it at *FourSigmatic.com)*, again that’s FourSigmatic.com using code “DNATODAY” for 30% off! And let me know if you like it too! (Sponsored)