Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced on September 17 that it had completed a phase 3 trial for a drug to treat fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP). FOP is a severe, ultra-rare genetic disorder that forms bone in connective tissues, which may significantly restrict mobility and result in an early death. Regeneron’s trial medicine reduced new bone lesions in FOP patients by over 90 percent. After announcing the positive news, Aris Economides, vice president of research at Regeneron, shared his excitement with UC Berkeley’s dean of biological sciences, Richard Harland. It was Harland’s mid-1990s discovery of a gene and its associated protein that prompted Regeneron down a winding path that eventually led to its potential FOP treatment — a demonstration of basic research’s value to society.
