The current state of biomarker research for Friedreich’s ataxia: a report from the 2018 FARA biomarker meeting

Ian A Blair, Jennifer Farmer, Steven Hersch, Jane Larkindale, David R Lynch, Jill Napierala, Marek Napierala, R Mark Payne & Sub H Subramony; Future Sci OA. 2019 Jul; 5(6): FSO398. doi:10.2144/fsoa-2019-0026

Lay abstractBiomarkers are characteristics that can be objectively measured, evaluated and used as indicators of disease progression or the effect of a therapy. Friedreich’s ataxia is a progressive multisystem neuromuscular disease with no treatment. Current clinical measures cannot robustly detect disease progression in less than a year, meaning that clinical trials are long and drug development is slow. The Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Alliance and the scientific community are looking for biomarkers that show change in shorter time frames that can accelerate drug development. The 2018 FARA Biomarker Meeting summarized the exciting findings that represent the current state of the field.




The current state of biomarker research for Friedreich’s ataxia: a report from the 2018 FARA biomarker meeting