The 1st BCDD Conference

Rare, also called "orphan", diseases have become in the last few years an innovative source for biomedical research and drug discovery. Any disease that affects a small percentage of the population is considered rare. An individual rare disease may affect only one person in a million, but all together, rare disease patients comprise about 7% of the worldwide population that are (but not all) classified as 6000 different diseases.

Novel technologies, research approaches

Rare diseases not only affect the person diagnosed - they also impact families, friends, caregivers and society as a whole. There is no cure for most rare diseases, but the appropriate treatment and medical care can improve the quality of life of those affected and extend their life expectancy. Impressive progress has already been made for certain diseases, but efforts still need to be made in the fields of research, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of rare diseases.

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To this end, we have organized this important meeting to address these issues and discuss how novel technologies and research approaches for drug discovery can be used for the future benefit of patients with rare diseases. Well-known scientist, clinicians, geneticists and pharma representatives from Israel and abroad, will expose and present their recent findings from their innovative work in the field of rare diseases.