Clinigen announced the launch of NaviGATE, a UK-based pilot educational programme for rare disease patient advocates and organizations. The NaviGATE programme, co-created by Clinigen with the involvement of representatives of the rare community and patient advocacy groups, aims to provide navigational support and tools to better engage with healthcare providers, industry and regulatory bodies. The overall goal is to facilitate greater participation in rare disease research and development and to enable increased access to medicines for more patients.

The programme starts with a research questionnaire issued to the rare disease community which seeks to provide a deep understanding of the needs of this community and the gaps which they need addressed. Clinigen's intention is to use the learnings from this questionnaire to inform the creation of an educational training programme for the rare community. The programme is designed to empower patients and patient advocates to support their communities to improve access to much-needed medicines.

Patient groups often serve as the only source of medical information for rare disease patients and their families but may lack the technical expertise to navigate the complex pharmaceutical landscape. Clinigen is a pioneer in the management of early access schemes and has many years' experience in rare disease programmes. This track record puts the Company in a unique position to address a large unmet educational need for patient groups to advocate on behalf of themselves and others more effectively.