46NYC and Global Genes Project Launch 'Treat46le' T-Shirt Design to Focus Worldwide Attention on the Health Disparities Facing Rare Disease Community

95 Percent of Rare Diseases Have No Approved Drug Treatments; Treat46le T-shirt Honors Millions of Rare Disease Patients Living With Little Hope

NEW YORK, Feb. 28, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Wear That You Care™. Today is Rare Disease Day and 46NYC (www.46nyc.com) is helping raise awareness for an important cause – this time the drug development crisis facing the rare disease patient community worldwide. The New York-based clothing company has teamed up with the Global Genes Project (www.globalgenesproject.com) to launch the 'Treat46le' t-shirt to create worldwide awareness around the lack of drug treatments available to the estimated 250 million of people suffering from life threatening, debilitating and chronic rare diseases.

"Our patient advocates chose the word treatable in our design because millions of people living with rare diseases should be entitled to the same access to drug treatments as any other patients," said Nicole Boice, founder, Global Genes Project. "The reality is drug development is virtually non-existent for thousands of rare diseases and there are no solutions in sight. This is a crisis situation facing millions of people and we need policy changes and an international rare disease strategy to address the situation."

46NYC is named 46 (for six) because the company is focused on helping those who are sick and in need. 46NYC creatively uses the word 'able' (46le) in many of their cause related t-shirt designs and numerous charities have designed t-shirts around the word.  46NYC t-shirts are ideal for the Global Genes Project campaign as the human cell has 46 chromosomes - two pairs of 23 - holding an estimated 25,000 genes. Genes are the individual instructions that tell our bodies how to develop and function; they govern our physical and medical characteristics, such as hair color, blood type and susceptibility to disease. A large portion of rare diseases are caused by chromosome or gene defects.

46NYC has had tremendous success promoting their cause related t-shirt designs. The company has designed the "Cur46le" t-shirt for Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for cancer research, "En46le" t-shirt for the Sunflower Children's Foundation, "Remark46le" t-shirt for the Samaritan's Purse Children's Heart Project, and the "Love46le" t-shirt for the International Justice Mission.  46NYC's vintage t-shirt to support The Breast Cancer Research Foundation was recently featured on the Today Show and 100% of the proceeds from 46NYC's "Rebuild Haiti" t-shirt was donated to the American Red Cross.

"Our goal since founding 46NYC has been to 'Care 46out It' and the Global Genes Project's Wear That You Care™ denim campaign for rare diseases aligned with our core mission," said Hal Kivette, co-founder, 46NYC.  "We designed a vintage t-shirt that incorporates the word treatable, a blue jeans theme with the number 46 to represent the thousands of genetic conditions that strike innocent people. The Treat46le t-shirt is one of our best designs yet."

Treat46le t-shirts are now available on the 46NYC.com.  For each Treat46le t-shirt purchased, $6 will be donated directly to the Global Genes Project for rare disease education and research efforts.

About 46NYC

46NYC is an innovative clothing company based in New York and founded by Graham Bunn (who appeared on the "The Bachelorette" in 2008), Hal Kivette and John McGinn. The company primarily sells cause related t-shirts and gives back a portion of proceeds to various charities around the world. 46NYC is dedicated to fighting disease, abuse, poverty, birth defects, malnutrition and inadequate education. Since 46NYC was founded in 2007, proceeds from sales of their t-shirt line have made substantial contributions to several global non-profit organizations.  For more information, visit http://www.46nyc.com.

About The Global Genes Project

The Global Genes Project (www.globalgenesproject.org), is a leading nonprofit rare disease advocacy organization that educates the public about the prevalence of rare diseases worldwide. The organization is responsible for launching the Denim Jeans Awareness Ribbon™, Wear That You Care™ denim campaign and the 7,000 Bracelets for Hope™ campaign to call attention to the global drug development crisis facing millions of people afflicted with rare diseases. To see the full list of Global Genes Project supporters, visit http://www.globalgenesproject.org/sponsors.php.

SOURCE The Global Genes Project