Orphan disease

An orphan disease, also known as a rare disease, is a condition that affects a very small percentage of the population. While there is no single, universally accepted definition, in the European Union, a disease is classified as rare if it affects fewer than 5 in 10,000 people.
Due to the small patient population, these diseases often receive less attention and funding for research. This can lead to a lack of available treatments, creating a high level of unmet medical need. The term “orphan” refers to the fact that these diseases have been “adopted” by regulatory and governmental bodies, which provide special incentives to the pharmaceutical industry to encourage the development of drugs to treat them.