Orphan drugs are: March 2010, March 2013

Ans. B: Drugs to treat rare diseases usually An orphan drug is a pharmaceutical agent/biological products that has been developed specifically to diagnose/treat/ prevent a rare medical condition (the condition itself being referred to as an orphan disease) or a more common condition which is endemic only in poor resource countries. There is no reasonable expectation that the cost of developing and marketing will be recovered from the sale of that drug. Though these drugs may be life saving for some patients, they are commercially difficult to obtain. The assignment of orphan status to a disease and to any drugs developed to treat it is a matter of public policy in many countries, and has resulted in medical breakthroughs. A rare disease, sometimes known as an orphan disease, is any disease that is not common.