Picking outcome measures for neurodegenerative gene therapy trials in rare disease is difficult. The conditions often have a lot of heterogeneity, relatively small sample sizes, and rarely disease-specific outcome measures. That is why “outside the box” thinking is necessary, and Cure Sanfilippo Foundation Chief Science Officer Cara O’Neill, MD FAAP, shared how novel outcomes could be used to expand and improve evaluation of gene therapy trials for neurodegenerative diseases at the Lysogene/Sarepta satellite symposium during SSIEM 2019 last week in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Most of the measures used in childhood neurodegenerative conditions are drawn from more general measures based on normal neurodevelopment and behavior patterns, rather than hallmarks of particular disease. So rare diseases are always being compared to “Normal.” But is that a fair comparison knowing that these patients have had chronic ongoing brain injury to the immature developing brain?
“We have to do a better job of matching endpoints with the patient’s needs across the spectrum of any given disease,” urged O’Neill.
The key is meeting the patient needs, not the clinician’s needs or fulfilling assumptions that have been made in the past about patients’ need.
“We must get as close as we can to discerning what is going to make their life better, for however long that is.”
Sharing early data from the Foundation’s MPS III Caregiver Preference Study, O’Neill noted that the more than 160 Sanfilippo caregivers across 14 different countries listed pain, communication, mobility and hyperactivity among their treatment priorities. Additionally, what caregivers prioritize changes along the course of the disease.
O’Neill detailed how the Foundation has partnered with Aparito, Casimir Trials, and Lysogene to conduct an exploratory study of novel outcomes for MPS IIIA running in parallel to AAV10-SGSH intracranial gene therapy trial. The study uses frequent video capture by caregivers to monitors specific disease hallmarks and priorities identified by the Caregiver Preference Study in the child’s familiar environment to capture the child’s best ability.
The patient-reported outcome videos study has allowed detection of subtle, but meaningful, incremental changes and appears feasible for longer term monitoring of real-world functioning and patient status, reported O’Neill.