Therapeutic Areas
Our current research and development efforts focus primarily on rare CNS and inflammatory disorders that have received little funding and support. We are also interested in exploratory studies in additional therapeutic areas in which there are important unmet medical needs and where Acthar Gel has the potential to play a significant therapeutic role.
Below is a brief overview of several of the therapeutic areas where Questcor is providing funding and support.
Multiple Sclerosis
Nephrotic Syndrome
Infantile Spasms
Opsoclonus Myoclonus Syndrome (OMS)
Multiple Sclerosis
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, often disabling disease that attacks the central nervous system (CNS), which consists of the brain and spinal cord. Symptoms of MS may be mild, such as numbness in the limbs, or severe, such as paralysis or loss of vision. The specific symptoms of MS and their rate of progression and severity vary from one person to another.
An MS flare, also known as an exacerbation, attack or relapse, is a sudden worsening of one or more symptoms of MS or the appearance of new symptoms lasting for at least 24 hours and separated from a previous attack by at least one month.
Find out more information about Multiple Sclerosis on our Acthar® Gel product website.
Nephrotic Syndrome
Nephrotic Syndrome is a condition caused by any of a group of diseases that damage the glomeruli, small blood vessels that filter wastes and excess water from the blood and pass them into the bladder as urine. Some of the diseases that cause Nephrotic Syndrome (such as nephritis) affect only the kidney, while others (such as diabetes and lupus) damage other organs of the body as well. As a result of damage to the glomeruli, protein in the blood, which is normally excreted in the urine in only very small amounts, is passed into the urine in excessive amounts, a condition known as proteinuria.
Find out more information about Nephrotic Syndrome on our Acthar® Gel product website.
Infantile Spasms
Infantile Spasms (IS) is a serious form of epilepsy, or seizure disorder, of infancy and childhood. There are several types of Infantile Spasms. Cryptogenic ("asymptomatic") Infantile Spasms usually follows a normal pregnancy, birth, and development, and there is no known cause. The prognosis for infants with this form of Infantile Spasms is generally more favorable than for infants with "symptomatic" Infantile Spasms, which results from an underlying condition. Physicians consider Infantile Spasms to be one of the most difficult types of seizures to treat.
Opsoclonus Myoclonus Syndrome (OMS)
Opsoclonus Myoclonus syndrome (OMS), also known as Kinsbourne syndrome or Dancing Eyes–Dancing Feet syndrome, is an extremely rare autoimmune-related childhood neurological disorder characterized by jerky, involuntary, rapid and uncoordinated movements of the eyes and body. The exact cause of this disorder is unknown.
Approximately 50% of OMS cases are associated with neuroblastoma, which is a form of cancer that begins in developing nerve cells and is usually found in infants and children. OMS affects approximately 1 in 10,000,000 people per year, and it occurs most often in children between 6 months to 36 months of age.