“Orphan” drugs: Good things for smallpopulations1.Fees,taxcredits,andanextendedmarket

There is no satisfactory definition of a rare or orphan disease (OD). The World Health Organization has suggested that OD is any pathological condition that strikes fewer than 65 per 100,000 people. The USA defines a rare disorder as one that affects fewer than 2, 00,000 Americans. Australia has the limit at 5 in 10,000 individuals. A disease is deemed rare if it observe in less than 1 in 2,500 people in Japan (1). These numbers clearly relate to the population sizes of these countries. A disease may be prevalent in a particular region while being rare in another. Thalassemia is an inherited blood disorder that is rare in Northern Europe, but prevalent in Central Asia, India, and the Middle East and Mediterranean countries