Spinal muscular atrophy type 1: current status of the issue

The development of medical technologies has led to an increase in the survival of patients with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). In turn, these drugs have a high cost, which limits their availability for children with SMA. This fact posed new challenges for the science community. Currently, clinical trials of the effectiveness of drugs for the treatment of various types of spinal muscular atrophy are underway. Clinical forms of SMA are grouped into 5 subtypes depending on the severity of the disease and the age of onset of the disease. Type 1 spinal muscular atrophy, or Werdnig-Hoffmann disease, is the most common, accounting for 60% of all cases of the disease. The first positive results of clinical trials of two potentially new and effective drugs − Zolgensma and Risdiplam were published recently. Despite this, the inaccessibility of treatment of spinal muscular atrophy creates a serious interdisciplinary problem at the state level, including medical and social rehabilitation, which is important to understand when planning medical care.