Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to fund 30 patient groups in a bid to tackle rare disease

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative today announced funding grants that will help 30 different patient-led groups advance research on various rare diseases. The initiative — which was set up in 2016 with a $3 billion budget and the ambitious goal of curing, preventing, or otherwise managing all diseases — had initially decided to only fund 10 groups dedicated to fighting rare disease. But after receiving nearly 300 applications last year, the initiative decided to triple the number of recipients, giving each $450,000 over the next two years to put toward resources and training. Among the funded groups: The Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome Network, which focuses on a hereditary disorder that causes albinism, visual impairment, and prolonged bleeding, and the NEC Society, which works to prevent an intestinal disorder in infants known as necrotizing enterocolitis.