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ORPHA:95

Friedreich ataxia

medium confidenceDisorder

Also known as: FA · FRDA

Publications

8,649

92.9th percentile

Trials

76

Interventional, condition-specific

Researchers

1,183

Distinct authors in sample

Gene link

FXN

Definitive

Readiness

6/6

Stages with a signal

Clinical definition (Orphanet)

Friedreich (FRDA) is an inherited neurodegenerative disorder classically characterized by gait and limb , dysarthria, dysphagia, oculomotor dysfunction, loss of deep tendon reflexes, pyramidal tract signs, scoliosis, and in some, , diabetes mellitus, visual loss and defective hearing.

How rare: 1-9 / 1 000 000 — roughly one to nine people per million. In a city the size of Kolkata, perhaps a few dozen.

Orphanet entry

Cross-references

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

Additional Mondo synonyms (2)

Friedreich's Ataxia · Friedreich's ataxia

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.”

6/6 stages with a signal

An interventional trial matched this condition name on ClinicalTrials.gov — see trials below.

  1. Gene identifiedPresent

    Definitive — FXN

  2. LiteraturePresent

    8,649 matched papers (3,411 in last 10 years) Source

  3. Phenotype characterisedPresent

    102 HPO annotations (e.g. Optic atrophy; Sensory neuropathy; Reduced visual acuity) Source

  4. Animal modelPresent

    18 genotype models (Mus musculus) Source

  5. Orphan designationPresent

    11 FDA · 9 EMA designations (11 FDA orphan-indication approvals) — e.g. leriglitazone Source

  6. Interventional trialPresent

    76 matched on ClinicalTrials.gov (12 recruiting in sample)

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?

Yes — we know a specific gene responsible (FXN).

GenCC classification: Definitive.

Phenotypes (Monarch / HPO)

102

Associated phenotypes · MONDO:0100339

  • Optic atrophy
  • Sensory neuropathy
  • Reduced visual acuity
  • Visual impairment
  • Abnormal EKG

Showing 5 of 102 — open Monarch for the full list.

Animal models (Monarch / Alliance)

18

Model associations linked to this Mondo ID

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)

24

Designations · 11 with FDA orphan-indication approval

  • FDA leriglitazoneFRIEDREICHS ATAXIA · 2019-08-01 · Not FDA Approved for Orphan Indication
  • FDA D-amino acid oxidase inhibitorFriedreich's Ataxia · 2017-12-06 · Not FDA Approved for Orphan Indication
  • FDA trans-resveratrolFRIEDREICHS ATAXIA · 2017-08-16 · Not FDA Approved for Orphan Indication
  • FDA omaveloxoloneFriedreich's Ataxia · 2017-06-19 · Not FDA Approved for Orphan Indication
  • FDA 9-cis, 12-cis-11,11-d2-linoleic acid ethyl esterFriedreich's Ataxia · 2016-05-23 · Not FDA Approved for Orphan Indication
  • FDA interferon gamma-1bFriedreich's Ataxia · 2014-10-01 · Not FDA Approved for Orphan Indication
  • FDA vatiquinoneFriedreich's Ataxia · 2014-01-31 · Not FDA Approved for Orphan Indication
  • FDA dimethyl fumarateFriedreich's Ataxia · 2013-09-11 · Not FDA Approved for Orphan Indication

Sources: FDA OOPD · EMA orphan designations

Open Targets candidates

25

Drugs / clinical candidates · MONDO_0100339

CTD chemicals (MyDisease.info)

8 associated chemicals · 5 pathways. Therapeutic evidence is listed first when present — not a treatment recommendation.

  • Betamethasone · therapeutic
  • Camptothecin · therapeutic
  • Cisplatin · therapeutic
  • Deferiprone · therapeutic
  • Molsidomine · therapeutic
  • Nimustine · therapeutic
  • Resveratrol · therapeutic
  • Iron · marker/mechanism

Pathways: Porphyrin and chlorophyll metabolism; Mitochondrial protein import; Mitochondrial iron-sulfur cluster biogenesis; Metabolism; Metabolism of proteins

MyDisease.info · MONDO:0100339

Literature

Is anyone studying this?

8,649

8,649 papers — among the better-studied rare conditions, though still a fraction of common-disease literature (breast cancer: over 700,000). Median papers in the last 10 years for a rare disease in this dataset (publications denominator n=3967) is 59.

8,649 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).

3,411 in the last 10 years · medium confidence · 92.9th percentile (publications denominator)

Phrase hits: 8,649 · MeSH hits: 0

Open Europe PMC search

Who's working on it?

1,183

Distinct author names in 200 sampled papers — named people below.

Who's working on it?

People publishing on this condition (sampled Europe PMC records). Affiliation is the most recent found in that sample.

  1. 01
    Lynch DR30 papers · 2026

    Departments of Pediatrics and Neurology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

    Papers in Europe PMC
  2. 02
    Corben LA19 papers · 2026

    Bruce Lefroy Centre for Genetic Health Research, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Parkville, 3052, Victoria, Australia.

    Papers in Europe PMC
  3. 03
    Delatycki MB17 papers · 2026

    Bruce Lefroy Centre for Genetic Health Research, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Parkville, 3052, Victoria, Australia.

    Papers in Europe PMC
  4. 04
    Reetz K17 papers · 2026

    Department of Neurology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.

    Papers in Europe PMC
  5. 05
    Schulz JB17 papers · 2026

    Department of Neurology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.

    Papers in Europe PMC
  6. 06
    Dogan I11 papers · 2026

    Department of Neurology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.

    Papers in Europe PMC
  7. 07
    Boesch S10 papers · 2026

    Center for Rare Movement Disorders Innsbruck, Department of Neurology, Medical University Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.

    Papers in Europe PMC
  8. 08
    Durr A10 papers · 2026

    Sorbonne Université, Paris Brain Institute - ICM, Inserm, CNRS, AP-HP, Paris, France.

    Papers in Europe PMC
  9. 09
    Pandolfo M10 papers · 2026

    Laboratory of Experimental Neurology, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.

    Papers in Europe PMC
  10. 10
    Rummey C10 papers · 2026

    Clinical Data Science GmbH, Basel, Switzerland.

    Papers in Europe PMC

Clinical research

Is a treatment being tested?

76

interventional trials for this specific condition

76 interventional trials matched this specific condition name; 12 currently recruiting in our sample.

Data as of 11 September 2026 · last trial check 28 July 2026

76 interventional trials — more than 77.2% of diseases in the trials denominator have none at all (5501 of 7126; this disease is at the 98.1th percentile).

medium confidence · 98.1th percentile (trials denominator)

Recruiting interventional trials

From the matched ClinicalTrials.gov set

76 interventional trials matched after quoted-phrase search and title/condition post-filter.

Observational and natural-history studies

32 observational studies match this condition. These do not test a treatment and are not counted in the interventional-trial headline, but they are genuine research: natural-history work often defines the endpoints needed for a future rare-disease trial, and families may be able to enroll.

Recruiting or not-yet-recruiting

Open the complete matched search on ClinicalTrials.gov

General rare disease registries you may be eligible for

These studies enroll across many rare conditions. They are not counted as evidence that anyone is studying this specific disease.

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 12 · after dedupe 12 · already on CT.gov 0 · kept 0 · parent 0 · uncertain 12 · 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).

Uncertain / not reviewed (12)

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 Friedreich ataxia — check Associations / patient organisations on that page.

India — NPRD

Last verified 2026-07-26

This ORPHAcode is not on our curated NPRD list (direct or Mondo-parent match). That does not decide clinical eligibility; families in India should ask a notified Centre of Excellence about current coverage.

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.

("Friedreich ataxia" OR "Friedreich's Ataxia") OR ("FXN syndrome" OR "FXN-related")

Run this search on Europe PMC

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

"Friedreich ataxia" OR "Friedreich's Ataxia"

Interventional trials matched via: phrase (mesh = registered under a MeSH descriptor no name phrase would catch; recall-expansion = gene / selected parent terms used only for trials).

Study-type breakdown: 76 interventional · 32 observational · 0 expanded access. Only interventional studies enter the trial headline.

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

Run this search on ClinicalTrials.gov

Synonyms dropped by stoplist: FA; FRDA

Confidence reasoning

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

Ingested 2026-07-26T12:23:58.510Z