Takeda Celebrates MPS Awareness Day in Recognition of the Seven Rare MPS Diseases

LEXINGTON, Mass., May 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Be #MPSAware for MPS Awareness Day 2019.

Takeda is pleased to announce the return of the annual #MPSAware campaign to coincide with MPS Awareness Day on May 15th 2019. The campaign aims to raise awareness of this group of seven rare genetic diseases and to recognize the patients, carers and healthcare professionals living and working with MPS (mucopolysaccharidoses) diseases.

It is estimated that 1 in every 25,000 infants born will have an MPS disease.¹ MPS can affect nearly every organ in the body.¹

For MPS Awareness Day 2019 we have brought together MPS specialists, along with patients and families, to share knowledge about the MPS diseases.

The website, www.MPSday.com features information about the MPS diseases, along with unique insights and links to further information. To help raise awareness, we encourage staff, customers and their wider networks to visit the website and share the video content on their social media platforms with the campaign hashtag #MPSAware.

By raising awareness, Takeda hopes to improve access to information about the MPS diseases and ensure as many people as possible get the care they need.

"Takeda is committed to raising awareness of the MPS diseases and recognizes the importance of sharing stories as a way to demonstrate our support for those families living with these challenging conditions," said Robert Hollowell, M.D., Head of Global Rare Metabolic Diseases Franchise. "We are dedicated to providing the MPS community with the patient resources that they need and deserve."

To learn more about the #MPSAware campaign and help raise awareness, please visit www.MPSday.com.

About Mucopolysaccharidoses (MPS) Diseases

The MPS diseases are a group of rare, genetic, metabolic disorders categorized as lysosomal storage diseases (LSDs). Patients with these conditions do not have enough, or any, of an enzyme that is needed to break down a sugar, called a mucopolysaccharide or glycosaminoglycan (GAG) in the body.¹ As a result, GAGs build up and can cause damage throughout the body, including in the heart, bones, joints, respiratory system and central nervous system.¹

There are seven types of MPS diseases, each caused by a different missing or inadequate enzyme required to break down GAGs.¹ All of the MPS disorders are progressive, meaning they worsen with time.¹ They are also heterogeneous in nature, meaning they can affect different people differently, often resulting in a spectrum of clinical severity from mildly affected to severe.^2,3

The seven different types of MPS include^2,3

• MPS I (Hurler, Hurler-Scheie, or Scheie syndrome)
  
  
• MPS II (Hunter syndrome)
  
  
• MPS III A-D (Sanfilippo syndrome)
  
  
• MPS IV A, B (Morquio syndrome)
  
  
• MPS VI (Maroteaux-Lamy syndrome)
  
  
• MPS VII (Sly syndrome)
  
  
• MPS IX (Natowicz syndrome)

People with MPS diseases share some similar features but the severity of the different MPS diseases varies greatly.³ The majority of MPS diseases are inherited in a recessive pattern, meaning that some people might be carriers of the disease but may not actually have MPS.^1,2 MPS II is different from the other MPS diseases because its inheritance is X-linked, meaning that mainly males are affected.^1,2

About MPS Awareness Day

MPS Awareness Day is an annual awareness day dedicated to honor patients and carers affected by this category of rare genetic diseases. Each year on May 15th, organizations around the world work to improve awareness and understanding of the MPS diseases, with the goal of achieving earlier diagnoses, improving research and gaining a better understanding of the needs of those living with MPS. MPS Awareness Day is organized by the National MPS Society and the International MPS Network.

About Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (TSE: 4502/NYSE: TAK) is a global, values-based, R&D-driven biopharmaceutical leader headquartered in Japan, committed to bringing Better Health and a Brighter Future to patients by translating science into highly-innovative medicines. Takeda focuses its R&D efforts on four therapeutic areas: Oncology, Gastroenterology (GI), Neuroscience, and Rare Diseases. We also make targeted R&D investments in Plasma-Derived Therapies and Vaccines. We are focusing on developing highly innovative medicines that contribute to making a difference in people's lives by advancing the frontier of new treatment options and leveraging our enhanced collaborative R&D engine and capabilities to create a robust, modality-diverse pipeline. Our employees are committed to improving quality of life for patients and to working with our partners in health care in approximately 80 countries and regions.

[1] National MPS Society. Learn - Diseases. Available at https://mpssociety.org/learn/diseases/. Last accessed April 2018.
[2] Khan et al. Mol Genet Metab. 2017 July; 121(3): 227-240
[3] NORD 2011, Mucopolysaccharidoses, P2.

SOURCE Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited