
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, April 8, 1991                   TAG: 9104080298
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

DRUG TO TREAT GAUCHER'S APPROVED

The government today announced approval of the first drug to treat Gaucher's disease, a rare metabolic disorder that causes anemia and enlargement of the liver and spleen.

The Food and Drug Administration said the drug, alglucerase, replaces an enzyme that is missing in people who have the hereditary disorder. The disease affects an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 people in the United States, of whom about 2,000 to 3,000 need treatment.

Dr. Roscoe Brady, a scientist at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, conducted initial research with the new treatment and the FDA made the drug available early to desperately ill patients.

Previously, severe cases of Type I Gaucher's disease were treated by removing the spleen and by bone marrow transplants.

- Associated Press

by CNB