Natalie Douglas, CEO of UK drug access specialist Idis, has joined the Board of Directors of the Global Genes | RARE Project.

Douglas’ experience with Idis has made her a valued addition to the Project, a patient advocacy organisation for people with rare and genetic diseases.

For 25 years, she has led Idis in working with pharma and biotech companies and healthcare providers to develop managed access programmes for drugs in areas of unmet medical need.

“We are honoured to have Natalie join our Board of Directors; her passion and commitment to rare disease and its community is more than evident in all she does both personally and professionally,” said Nicole Boice, President, Global Genes | RARE Project.

Douglas commented: “Addressing the unmet medical needs in the rare disease community is especially challenging. The Global Genes | RARE Project has created a much-needed voice for these patients and their families.”

The Project offers programmes to educate and support patients, advocates, foundations and other organisations concerned with rare and genetic diseases.

Based in Weybridge, Idis partners with drug companies to provide access to medicines for patients with unmet medical needs, outside the formal approval and commercial routes but in compliance with regulations.

In 2012, Idis helped more than 720,000 patients, including many with rare diseases, gain access to drugs. The company works to make drugs available to patients at various stages of their life cycle, including pre-approval, post-market exit and during production shortfalls.

Biotech company Genzyme has appointed Brendan Martin as General Manager for UK and Ireland, with responsibility for all commercial activities.

Brendan Martin joined Genzyme in 2002 and established its lysosomal storage disorders business in Ireland before becoming the company’s Business Unit Director in 2007 and Deputy General Manager for UK and Ireland in 2010.

He replaces Paul Drohan, who leaves Genzyme after 17 years to return to Canada and pursue other opportunities.

Robin Kenselaar, Head of Genzyme EMEA, said: “Brendan’s appointment as General Manager UK and Ireland comes at a key time for the business as it builds its multiple sclerosis franchise and continues to develop in rare diseases.

“In his Genzyme career to date, Brendan has shown he is a leader with the experience, energy, vision and commitment to patients needed to move us forward.”

Part of the Sanofi group, Genzyme in the UK focuses on rare inherited and immune diseases, with a commercial base in Oxford.

Its UK manufacturing facility in Haverhill in Suffolk is a major global distribution centre for the company’s products for genetic diseases.

Genzyme has been a leading global biotech company for 30 years.

Three leading pharmaceutical companies are working with the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) to find new indications for failed drugs.

Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly have joined a research programme that aims to speed innovative drug development by using existing compounds.

The programme will seek to match these compounds to newly discovered genetic disease pathways to identify accidentally pre-targeted drugs.

NIH Director Dr Francis Collins pointed to a familiar example: the first effective HIV treatment, AZT, was an unsuccessful cancer drug.

Such discoveries, he said, have been “sort of serendipitous” – but the goal of the new research programme is to replace serendipity with systematic analysis.

Recent research has identified the genetic causes of 4,500 diseases, but so far targeted treatments have only been developed for 250 of these.

The three drug companies have agreed to each make available at least 24 ‘failed’ drugs (withdrawn or never launched) that passed safety tests, making their testing in new indications relatively easy.

Scientists will apply for NIH grants to study specific drugs.

To simplify the legal framework, the programme allows the companies to retain ownership of their drugs while the researchers can patent their own discoveries.

The NIH will invest about $20m in the programme in its first year, and hopes for support from more pharmaceutical companies in the future.