Genzyme Screening Participants
For Late-Onset Pompe's Study

The biopharmaceutical company Genzyme is now screening people with late-onset Pompe’s disease (acid maltase deficiency) for a future trial to evaluate Myozyme, a Genzyme-patented, laboratory-engineered replacement enzyme for acid maltase that has shown promise in babies with the infantile form of the disease.

Genzyme is seeking people with definite or probable Pompe’s disease who are at least 8 years old and able to walk with or without assistive devices. For this screening, Genzyme is excluding people who have participated in its observational study of late-onset Pompe’s, as well as patients who are using tracheostomy ventilation or require noninvasive ventilation while awake and upright.

Sites in New York and Pittsburgh are screening patients as of July. Other sites should open soon.

Genzyme also has an “expanded access” program that allows some patients who don’t meet the requirements for inclusion in a formal study to receive Myozyme.

For details, contact Genzyme in Cambridge, Mass., at (800) 745-4447 or medinfo@genzyme.com.