I have been invited to visit NIH to discuss our drug development strategy for Wolfram syndrome. This is an opportunity for us to make a difference in the future of our patients. NIH is now facilitating a three-way collaboration, a physician-scientist like myself, patient organizations, and National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences to develop treatments for rare diseases. They have facilities to screen drugs, conduct toxicity studies, and evaluate chemical structures of crude drugs. They are open to include a start-up biotech company focusing on a rare disease.
I am preparing for this important meeting. I will show our cutting-edge drug screening methods and preclinical data. They are interested in my partnership with patient organizations, especially the Snow Foundation. They are also interested in my partnership with other patient organizations. In the next several weeks, I will ask patient organizations to provide me with letters of support.
Thank you again for your continued support. I will keep on doing my best.
Looking forward with fingers crossed,
Fumi Urano