RARE DISEASERESEARCH ATLAS

ORPHA:2524

Pontocerebellar hypoplasia type 2

medium confidenceSubtype of disorder

Also known as: PCH2

Publications

125

51.4th percentile

Trials

0

Interventional, condition-specific

Researchers

968

Distinct authors in sample

Gene link

Readiness

3/6

Stages with a signal

Clinical definition (Orphanet)

A rare, genetic form of pontocerebellar hypoplasia characterized by pontocerebellar hypoplasia and neocortical atrophy that manifests clinically with uncoordinated sucking and swallowing, and generalized clonus in the neonate. In early childhood, spasticity, chorea/dyskinesia, and microcephaly develop. Voluntary motor development is lacking.

How rare: How common this is has not been clearly measured.

Orphanet entry

Cross-references

Joined from Mondo / Orphanet. MeSH labels may enter searches; UMLS / OMIM / NCIT are stored for reference.

Research stages

Trial readiness signals

Where this condition sits on an open-data research pipeline — not how close a treatment is, and not medical advice. Empty stages often mean “not in these databases under this Mondo ID,” not “impossible.”

3/6 stages with a signal

No specific-condition interventional trial, but broader-category trials exist — discuss eligibility with a clinician.

  1. Gene identifiedNot found

    No GenCC disease–gene assertion in this build

  2. LiteraturePresent

    125 matched papers (66 in last 10 years) Source

  3. Phenotype characterisedPresent

    138 HPO annotations (e.g. Cerebellar hypoplasia; Generalized myoclonic seizure; Impaired oropharyngeal swallow response) Source

  4. Animal modelNot found

    No Alliance genotype “model of” associations via Monarch for these Mondo IDs

  5. Orphan designationNot found

    No FDA or EMA orphan-drug designation matched this disease via UMLS or preferred name Source

  6. Interventional trialPartial

    None under the specific name; 1 for broader category pontocerebellar hypoplasia

Biology

Genes and phenotypes

Gene–disease validity from GenCC, plus phenotypes and animal models joined from Monarch Initiative via Mondo ID — not a clinical diagnosis aid.

Do we know what causes it?

Not yet — the cause hasn't been pinned down in GenCC.

No strong gene–disease assertion joined for this Orphanet entity.

Phenotypes (Monarch / HPO)

138

Associated phenotypes · MONDO:0016759

  • Cerebellar hypoplasia
  • Generalized myoclonic seizure
  • Impaired oropharyngeal swallow response
  • Progressive microcephaly
  • Sloping forehead

Showing 5 of 138 — open Monarch for the full list.

Animal models (Monarch / Alliance)

None returned for this Mondo ID. Empty here is not proof that no model organism work exists under another name or gene.

Monarch fetch 2026-07-29

Therapies

Designations, candidates, and chemicals

FDA OOPD and EMA orphan designations, Open Targets clinical candidates, and CTD chemical associations via MyDisease.info. These never change the interventional-trial headline.

Orphan designation (FDA · EMA)

No designation matched this disease via UMLS or preferred name on the FDA OOPD mirror or EMA orphan register. Absence here is not proof that none exists under another wording.

Open Targets candidates

No drugs or clinical candidates returned for this Mondo ID on Open Targets.

CTD chemicals (MyDisease.info)

No CTD chemical associations returned for this Mondo ID.

Literature

Is anyone studying this?

125

125 papers have ever been published on this condition (under this name). For scale, breast cancer has over 700,000. Median papers in the last 10 years for a rare disease in this dataset (publications denominator n=3967) is 59.

125 papers since the earliest indexed year in this search — median last-10-year count for a rare disease in this dataset is 59 (publications denominator n=3967).

66 in the last 10 years · medium confidence · 51.4th percentile (publications denominator)

Phrase hits: 125 · MeSH hits: 0

Open Europe PMC search

Who's working on it?

968

Distinct author names in 125 sampled papers — named people below.

Who's working on it?

No interventional trial matched this name; these authors publish on it in the sampled literature — a practical starting point for contact.

  1. 01
    Krägeloh-Mann I10 papers · 2025

    Department of Neuropediatrics, Developmental Neurology and Social Pediatrics, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.

    Papers in Europe PMC
  2. 02
    Barth PG7 papers · 2014

    Division of Pediatric Neurology, University Hospital, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

    Papers in Europe PMC
  3. 03
    Baas F6 papers · 2011

    Department of Clinical Genetics, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands

    Papers in Europe PMC
  4. 04
    Mathijssen IB6 papers · 2025

    Department of Clinical Genetics, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. i.b.mathijssen@amc.uva.nl.

    Papers in Europe PMC
  5. 05
    Groeschel S5 papers · 2024

    Department of Neuropediatrics, Developmental Neurology and Social Pediatrics, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.

    Papers in Europe PMC
  6. 06
    Henneman L5 papers · 2021

    Department of Clinical Genetics, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

    Papers in Europe PMC
  7. 07
    Namavar Y5 papers · 2011

    Department of Genome Analysis, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

    Papers in Europe PMC
  8. 08
    Poll-The BT5 papers · 2011
    Papers in Europe PMC
  9. 09
    Dobyns WB4 papers · 2017

    Departments of Pediatrics and Neurology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.

    Papers in Europe PMC
  10. 10
    Lakeman P4 papers · 2021

    Department of Clinical Genetics, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

    Papers in Europe PMC

Clinical research

Is a treatment being tested?

0

interventional trials for this specific condition

No interventional trial testing a treatment matched this specific condition name on ClinicalTrials.gov (observational studies and pan-disease registries are listed separately when present). 1 trial are registered for pontocerebellar hypoplasia, the broader category — shown separately because they may or may not enrol this specific subtype.

Data as of 11 September 2026 · last trial check 11 September 2026

No matched interventional trials. This is true for 77.2% of diseases in the trials denominator (5501 of 7126). Here are the researchers publishing on it.

medium confidence · 38.6th percentile (trials denominator)

Recruiting interventional trials

From the matched ClinicalTrials.gov set

No interventional trial testing a treatment was found for this specific condition name on ClinicalTrials.gov.

1 interventional trial matched pontocerebellar hypoplasia, the broader category — listed below. Those studies are not counted in the condition-specific total.

Broader category: pontocerebellar hypoplasia

1

Interventional trials for the parent category, exclusive of NCT IDs already counted above. Eligibility for this subtype is not guaranteed.

Worth raising with a clinician. How we count trials.

Other registries (secondary)

Broader net from EU CTIS, ISRCTN, and ICTRP when available — deduped against ClinicalTrials.gov IDs already counted above. Dual-model LLM relevance gates what we keep. These rows are not added to the interventional headline.

raw 0 · after dedupe 0 · already on CT.gov 0 · kept 0 · parent 0 · uncertain 0 · dropped 0 · fetched 2026-07-29

Source notes: ictrp: Error: ICTRP public search unavailable (WHO portal is SPA-only; SOAP needs partnership). Tried: https://apps.who.int/tri

No secondary-registry studies passed dual-model relevance for this condition name (after dedupe).

Where to find support

Condition-specific patient organisations, when Orphanet lists them, are on the disease’s Orphanet page. We also link umbrella groups that support undiagnosed and ultra-rare families.

Orphanet entry for Pontocerebellar hypoplasia type 2 — check Associations / patient organisations on that page.

India — NPRD

Last verified 2026-07-26

Likely covered — the policy lists Spinal muscular atrophy as a category (Group 3), and this condition is a form of it. Confirm eligibility with a Centre of Excellence.

Group 3 — high-cost / lifelong therapy with careful selection

Up to ₹50 lakh per patient

Financial support at notified Centres of Excellence is the figure commonly cited in recent MoHFW/PIB statements. Many Group 3 patients also use the MoHFW voluntary-contribution / crowdfunding portal.

Eligibility and patient selection rules change. Verify with a CoE; the crowdfunding portal is a separate mechanism from CoE funding. Verify

Centres of Excellence (15)
  • All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)New Delhi, Delhi
  • Maulana Azad Medical CollegeNew Delhi, Delhi
  • Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical SciencesLucknow, Uttar Pradesh
  • Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER)Chandigarh, Chandigarh
  • Centre for DNA Fingerprinting & Diagnostics with Nizam’s Institute of Medical SciencesHyderabad, Telangana
  • King Edward Memorial HospitalMumbai, Maharashtra
  • Institute of Post-Graduate Medical Education and Research (IPGMER)Kolkata, West Bengal
  • Centre for Human Genetics with Indira Gandhi HospitalBengaluru, Karnataka
  • Institute of Child Health and Hospital for Children (ICH & HC)Chennai, Tamil Nadu
  • All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)Jodhpur, Rajasthan
  • Sree Avittam Thirunal Hospital (SAT), Government Medical CollegeThiruvananthapuram, Kerala
  • All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh
  • Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS)Imphal, Manipur
  • All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)Patna, Bihar
  • Assam Medical College & HospitalDibrugarh, Assam

Voluntary contributions / crowdfunding (separate from CoE funding): https://rarediseases.mohfw.gov.in/

Hand-curated for this project. ORPHAcode mappings are best-effort and may be incomplete or imprecise for umbrella categories. Parent (Mondo) matches mean the policy lists a broader category — confirm eligibility with a Centre of Excellence. Financial entitlements summarised from public policy statements and may change. This is not official government guidance.

How we counted this

Europe PMC query (preferred label + any corrected label + Orphanet and Mondo exact synonyms, stoplisted; unioned with resolved MeSH labels when available). UMLS / OMIM / NCIT cross-references are stored on the overview but are not added to the query string.

"Pontocerebellar hypoplasia type 2"

Run this search on Europe PMC

ClinicalTrials.gov query (quoted phrases + MeSH via query.cond, plus recall-expansion terms when used):

"Pontocerebellar hypoplasia type 2"

Study-type breakdown: 0 interventional · 0 observational · 0 expanded access. Only interventional studies enter the trial headline.

Parent-category trials query:

"pontocerebellar hypoplasia"

Query health: ok — strategies attempted: phrase; with hits: phrase

Run this search on ClinicalTrials.gov

Synonyms dropped by stoplist: PCH2

Confidence reasoning

  • Preferred label is multi-word and distinctive
  • 1 synonym(s) dropped by stoplist (may under-count)
  • No label/synonym collisions with other diseases in this corpus

Ingested 2026-07-26T20:26:46.518Z