5 Clinical Trials for Various Conditions
The purpose of this research study is to determine the way (mechanisms) by which your defect in bile acid handling (metabolism) causes your liver disease or abnormality in absorption of vitamins and the effect of an investigational bile acid therapy (glycocholic acid) on your vitamin absorption and your liver disease. An investigational therapy is one that not approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is being provided to you under an Investigational New Drug application from the FDA.
The primary purpose of the study is to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy and safety of cholic acid in subjects with identified inborn errors of bile acid synthesis.
This is a prospective, descriptive, observational research study designed to observe and document the clinical practice by domain experts, and how the knowledge of new findings that are published in the medical literature affect clinical decision making. The study will evaluate risk factors and co-variants, including genetic variants that are associated with disease progression such as pain, inflammation, organ dysfunction, disability and quality of life.
Early Check provides voluntary screening of newborns for a selected panel of conditions. The study has three main objectives: 1) develop and implement an approach to identify affected infants, 2) address the impact on infants and families who screen positive, and 3) evaluate the Early Check program. The Early Check screening will lead to earlier identification of newborns with rare health conditions in addition to providing important data on the implementation of this model program. Early diagnosis may result in health and development benefits for the newborns. Infants who have newborn screening in North Carolina will be eligible to participate, equating to over 120,000 eligible infants a year. Over 95% of participants are expected to screen negative. Newborns who screen positive and their parents are invited to additional research activities and services. Parents can enroll eligible newborns on the Early Check electronic Research Portal. Screening tests are conducted on residual blood from existing newborn screening dried blood spots. Confirmatory testing is provided free-of-charge for infants who screen positive, and carrier testing is provided to mothers of infants with fragile X. Affected newborns have a physical and developmental evaluation. Their parents have genetic counseling and are invited to participate in surveys and interviews. Ongoing evaluation of the program includes additional parent interviews.
Cholestasis is a condition in which bile is not properly transported from the liver to the small intestine. Cholestasis can be caused by an array of childhood diseases, including the genetic diseases Alagille syndrome (ALGS), alpha-1 antitrypsin (a-1AT) deficiency, bile acid synthesis and metabolism defects, and progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis (PFIC) or benign recurrent intrahepatic cholestasis(BRIC). This study will investigate the natural history and progression of the four previously mentioned cholestatic liver diseases to provide a better understanding of the causes and effects of the diseases.