NATIONAL POLICY

FOR

RARE DISEASES, 2021

 Table of Contents

1. BACKGROUND

2. RARE DISEASES – ISSUES & CHALLENGES

3. THE INDIAN SCENARIO

4. EXPERIENCES FROM OTHER COUNTRIES

5. NEED TO BALANCE COMPETING PRIORITIES

6. DEFINITION & DISEASES COVERED

7. POLICY DIRECTION

8. PREVENTION AND CONTROL

9. CENTRES OF EXCELLENCE AND NIDAN KENDRA

10. GOVERNMENT OF INDIA SUPPORT IN TREATMENT

11. DEVELOPMENT OF MANPOWER

12. CONSTITUTION OF CONSORTIUM

13. INCREASING AFFORDABILITY OF DRUG RELATED TO RARE DISEASES

14. IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY

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1. Background

Ministry of Health and family Welfare, Government of India formulated a National

Policy for Treatment of Rare Diseases (NPTRD) in July, 2017. Implementation of the
policy, however, faced certain challenges. A limiting factor in its implementation was
bringing States on board and lack of clarity on how much Government could support in
terms of tertiary care. Public Health and Hospitals is primarily a State subject.
Stakeholder consultation with the State Governments at the draft stage of formulation of
the policy could not be done in an elaborate manner. When the policy was shared with
State Governments, issues such as cost effectiveness of interventions for rare disease vis-
a-vis other health priorities, the sharing of expenditure between Central and State
Governments, flexibility to State Governments to accept the policy or change it according
to their situation, were raised by some of the State Governments.
In the circumstances, though framed with best intent, the policy had
implementation challenges and gaps, including the issue of cost effectiveness of
supporting such health interventions for limited resource situation, which made it not
feasible to implement. Given the challenges in implementing the policy, the need for
wider consultation and recommendations, a decision was taken to reframe the National
Policy for Treatment of Rare Diseases. An Expert Committee was constituted by Ministry
of Health and Family Welfare in November, 2018 to review the NPTRD, 2017. The Terms
and References of the Expert Committee are given below:

a. To review the national Policy for Treatment of Rare Diseases, 2017 and to suggest
amendments/changes as may be required.
b. To define Rare Diseases for India.
c. To draft National Policy for Rare Diseases.
d. To suggest vision and strategy in country’s context.

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 Pending reframing the policy, the earlier policy has been kept in abeyance vide a non-
statutory Gazette Notification dated 18-12-2018, till the revised policy is issued or till
further orders, whichever is earlier.

Based on the report of the Expert Committee and with the approval of the
competent authority, the draft National Policy for Rare Diseases was finalized and
placed in the public domain on 13.1.2020 inviting comments/views from all the
stakeholders, general public, organisations and States/UTs.

Comments/suggestions received from general public/organisations/stake-

holders/States/UTs were referred to DGHS for examination and to submit
recommendations. DGHS constituted an Expert Committee to examine the
comments/suggestions received. Based on the examination of the
comments/suggestions received and recommendations of the same Expert Committee
and after further deliberation, the National Policy for Rare Diseases has been finalised.

2. Rare Diseases: Issues & Challenges

The field of rare diseases is complex and heterogeneous. The landscape of rare
diseases is constantly changing, as there are new rare diseases and conditions being
identified and reported regularly in medical literature. Apart from a few rare diseases,
where significant progress has been made, the field is still at a nascent stage. For a long
time, doctors, researchers and policy makers were unaware of rare diseases and until
very recently there was no real research or public health policy concerning issues related
to the field. This poses formidable challenges in development of a comprehensive policy
on rare diseases. Nevertheless, it is important to take steps, in the short as well as long
term, with the objective of tackling rare diseases in a holistic and comprehensive
manner.

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2.1 The varying definitions of rare diseases

WHO defines rare disease as often debilitating lifelong disease or disorder with a
prevalence of 1 or less, per 1000 population. However, different countries have their own
definitions to suit their specific requirements and in context of their own population,
health care system and resources. In the US, rare diseases are defined as a disease or
condition that affects fewer than 200,000 patients in the country (6.4 in 10,000 people).
EU defines rare diseases as a life-threatening or chronically debilitating condition
affecting no more than 5 in 10,000 people. Japan identifies rare diseases as diseases with
fewer than 50,000 prevalent cases (0.04%) in the country. A summary of the prevalence
based definitions of rare diseases used in various countries is tabulated below:

Table 1: Definitions of Rare Disease in different countries

S No. Country Prevalence less than per 10,000

population

1 USA 6.4

2 Europe 5.0

3 Canada 5.0

4 Japan 4.0

5 South Korea 4.0

6 Australia 1.0

7 Taiwan 1.0

Source: The I.C. Verma Sub-Committee Report ‘Guidelines for Therapy and Management’

The use of varying definitions and diverse terminology can result in confusion and
inconsistencies and has implications for access to treatment and for research and

5
development. According to a study1, that reviewed and analysed definitions across
jurisdictions, most definitions, as discussed above, appear to consider disease
prevalence, but other criteria also apply sometimes, such as - disease severity, whether
the disease is life-threatening, whether there are alternative treatment options available,
and whether it is heritable. The study found that relatively few definitions included
qualifiers relating to disease severity and/or a lack of existing treatments, whereas most
definitions included a prevalence threshold. The average prevalence thresholds used to
define rare diseases ranges among different jurisdictions from 1 to 6 cases/10,000
people, with WHO recommending a prevalence less than 10/10,000 population for
defining rare diseases. The study concluded that attempts at harmonising the differing
definitions, should focus on standardizing objective criteria such as prevalence thresholds
and avoid qualitative descriptors like severity of the disease.

However, it has been contested that disease prevalence alone may also not be an
accurate basis for defining rare diseases, as it does not take into account changes in
population over time. Hence, some have suggested that a more reliable approach to
arriving at a definition could be based on the factors of – a) location - a disease which is
uncommon in one country may be quite common in other parts of the world; b) levels of
rarity - some diseases may be much more rare than other diseases which are also
uncommon; and c) study-ability - whether the prevalence of a disease lends itself to
clinical trials and studies.

This underscores the need for further research to better understand the extent of
the existing diversity of definitions for rare diseases and to examine the scope of arriving
at a definition, which is best suited to the conditions in India. It shall be done on a priority
basis as soon as sufficient data is available. Steps have already been taken for creation of
a hospital based National Registry for rare diseases in India by ICMR.

1. 1Richter, T., Nestler-Parr, S., Babela, R., Khan, Z. M., Tesoro, T., Molsen, E., & Hughes, D. A. (2015).
Rare Disease Terminology and Definitions – A Systematic Global Review: Report of the ISPOR Rare
Disease Special Interest Group [Electronic version]. Value in Health, 18, 906-914. Available at:
https://www.ispor.org/raredisease-terms-definitions.pdf

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2.2 Diagnosis of rare diseases
Early diagnosis of rare diseases is a challenge owing to multiple factors that
include lack of awareness among primary care physicians, lack of adequate screening and
diagnostic facilities.
Traditional genetic testing includes tests that can only address a few diseases. As
a result, physicians most often provide their best guess on which tests are to be done. If
the test is negative, further testing will be required using next generation sequencing
based tests, or chromosomal microarray which are applicable, but expensive and time-
consuming processes with interpretation and counselling issues at times.
There is a lack of awareness about rare diseases in general public as well as in the
medical fraternity. Many doctors lack appropriate training and awareness to be able to
correctly and timely diagnose and treat these conditions. According to a recent report 2, it
takes patients in United States (US) an average of 7.6 years and patients in United
Kingdom (UK) an average of 5.6 years to receive an accurate diagnosis, typically involving
as many as eight physicians (four primary care and four specialists). In addition, two to
three misdiagnoses are typical before arriving at a final diagnosis. Delay in diagnosis or a
wrong diagnosis increases the suffering of the patients exponentially. There is an
immediate need to create awareness amongst general public, patients & their families
and doctors, training of doctors for early and accurate diagnosis, standardization of
diagnostic modalities and development of newer diagnostic and therapeutic tools.

2.3 Challenges in research and development

A fundamental challenge in research and development for the majority of rare

diseases is that there is relatively little known about the pathophysiology or the natural
history of these diseases. Rare diseases are difficult to research upon as the patient pool

2
Rare Disease Impact Report: Insights from patients and the medical community available at:
https://globalgenes.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/ShireReport-1.pdf

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is very small and it often results in inadequate clinical experience. Therefore, the clinical
explanation of rare diseases may be skewed or partial. The challenge becomes even
greater as rare diseases are chronic in nature, where long term follow-up is particularly
important. As a result, rare diseases lack published data on long-term treatment
outcomes and are often incompletely characterised.

This makes it necessary to explore international and regional collaborations for

research, collaborations with the physicians who work on any rare disease and with
patient groups and families dealing with the consequences of these disorders. This will
help gain a better understanding of the pathophysiology of these diseases, and the
therapeutic effects that would have a meaningful impact on the lives of patients. There is
also a need to review and where possible modify, clinical trial norms keeping in mind the
particular challenges in rare diseases, without compromising on the safety and quality of
the drugs or diagnostic tools.

2.4 Challenges in treatment

2.4.1 Unavailability of treatment

Availability and access to medicines are important to reduce morbidity and
mortality associated with rare diseases. Despite progress in recent years, effective or safe
treatment is not available for most of the rare diseases. Hence, even when a correct
diagnosis is made, there may not be an available therapy to treat the rare disease. There
are between 7000 - 8000 rare diseases, but less than 5% have therapies available to treat
them. About 95% rare diseases have no approved treatment3 and less than 1 in 10
patients receive disease specific treatment. Where drugs are available, they are
prohibitively expensive, placing immense strain on resources.

3
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-8587(19)30006-3/fulltext

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2.4.2 Prohibitive cost of treatment
As the number of persons suffering from individual rare diseases is small, they do
not constitute a significant market for drug manufacturers to develop and bring to
market drugs for them. For this reason, rare diseases are also called ‘orphan diseases’
and drugs to treat them are called “orphan drugs”. Where, they do make drugs to treat
rare diseases, the prices are extremely high apparently to recoup the cost of research
and development. At present, very few pharmaceutical companies are manufacturing
drugs for rare diseases globally and there are no domestic manufacturers in India except
for Food for Special Medical Purposes(FSMP) for small molecule inborn errors of
metabolism. Due to the high cost of most therapies, the government has not been able
to provide these for free. It is estimated that for a child weighing 10 kg, the annual cost
of treatment for some rare diseases, may vary from Rupees 10 lakh to more than 1 crore
per year with treatment being lifelong and drug dose and cost, increasing with age and
weight.

Countries have dealt with this unique problem of high cost through various means
that were suited to their local needs. Instruments like the Orphan Drug Act (ODA) in US &
Canada, provide incentives to drug manufacturers to encourage them to manufacture
drugs for rare diseases. The economic incentives & safeguards offered under the Act
ensure benefits to the local patients. However, the exorbitant prices of drugs for rare
diseases have led to concerns even in the developed countries about maintaining
sustainability of the rare diseases funding/reimbursement programmes. The exorbitant
prices have led to calls for transparency in setting prices of drugs and for price control
and have even prompted scrutiny and congressional inquiries.

3. The Indian Scenario

Data on how many people suffer from different diseases that are considered rare
globally, is lacking in India. The cases identified so far have been diagnosed at tertiary
hospitals. The lack of epidemiological data on incidence and prevalence of rare diseases
impedes understanding of the extent of the burden of rare diseases and development of a

9
definition. It also hampers efforts to arrive at correct estimation of the number of persons
suffering from these diseases and describe their associated morbidity and mortality. In such
a scenario, the economic burden of most rare diseases is unknown and cannot be
adequately estimated from the existing data sets.

Although extremely challenging, considering the complexity of various diseases and

the difficulty in diagnosis, there is a clear need to undertake systematic epidemiological
studies to ascertain the number of people suffering from rare diseases in India.
So far only limited number of diseases has been recorded in India from tertiary care
hospitals that are globally considered as rare diseases though ambit may encompass from
7000 to 8000 disorders. The commonly reported diseases include Primary
immunodeficiency disorders, Lysosomal storage disorders (Gaucher’s disease,
Mucopolysaccharidoses, Pompe disease, fabry disease etc.) small molecule inborn errors of
metabolism (Maple Syrup urine disease, organic acidemias etc.), Cystic Fibrosis,
osteogenesis imperfecta, certain forms of muscular dystrophies and spinal muscular
atrophy, etc.

4. Experiences from other countries:

While preparing the policy for rare diseases in India, policies of other countries have
been reviewed. In United States of America, development of drugs for rare disease is sought
to be encouraged through the Orphan Drugs Act, which incentivises industry by way of
market exclusivity, grants to researchers and tax incentives on expenditure incurred during
evaluation of drugs for their therapeutic potential. However, critics have pointed out that
pharmaceutical companies have taken advantage of this arrangement and ‘gamed the
system’ to maximise profits. The European Joint Programme on Rare Disease mostly focuses
on research. National Health Service (NHS) England, for example, provides that the
treatment for Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) will be made available to the youngest and
most severely-affected (SMA Type 1) patients immediately by Biogen (The pharmaceutical
company that manufactures treatment for SMA), with NHS England offering funding on

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National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) publication of final guidance. In
Singapore, a fund - Rare Disease Fund – has been created to fund five medicines to treat
three rare disease conditions. In Malaysia and Australia subsidised access for eligible
patients is provided for expensive and lifesaving drugs.

5. Need to balance competing priorities of public health in resource constrained

settings

Rare diseases place a major economic burden on any country and especially in
resource-constrained settings. The financial capacity to support exorbitant cost of
treatment is an important consideration in public health policy development with
reference to treatment for rare diseases. In resource-constrained settings, it is pertinent
to balance competing interests of public health for achieving optimal outcome for the
resources allocated. As resources are limited and have multiple uses, the policy makers
have to make choice of prioritizing certain set of interventions over others- the
appropriate choice is then to support those interventions that would provide more
number of healthy life years for given sum of money while simultaneously looking at the
equity i.e., interventions that benefit poor who cannot afford healthcare are prioritized.
Thus, interventions that address health problems of a much larger number of persons by
allocating a relatively smaller amount are prioritized over others such as funding
treatment of rare diseases where much greater resources will be required for addressing
health problems of a far smaller number of persons.

Hence, any policy on rare diseases needs to be considered in the context of the
available scarce resources and the need for their utmost judicious utilization for
maximizing the overall health outcomes for the whole of society measured in terms of
increase of healthy life years.

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6. Definition of Rare Diseases:

6.1 There is no universal or standard definition of rare disease. A disease that occurs
infrequently is generally considered a rare disease, and it has been defined by different
countries in terms of prevalence – either in absolute terms or in terms of prevalence per
10,000 population. A country defines a rare disease most appropriate in the context of its
own population, health care system and resources.

6.2 As mentioned above, India faces the limitation of lack of epidemiological data to be
able to define rare diseases in terms of prevalence or prevalence rate, which has been
used by other countries. To overcome this, a hospital based National Registry for Rare
Diseases has been initiated by ICMR by involving centers across the country that are
involved in diagnosis and management of Rare Diseases. This will yield much needed
epidemiological data for rare diseases. In the absence of epidemiological data on
diseases considered as rare in other countries, it is not possible to prescribe threshold
prevalence rates to define a disease condition as rare.

Till the time such data is available and the country arrives at a definition of a rare
disease based on prevalence data, the term rare diseases, for the purpose of this policy,
shall construe the following groups of disorders identified and categorized by experts
based on their clinical experience:

Group 1: Disorders amenable to one-time curative treatment:

a) Disorders amenable to treatment with Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

(HSCT) –
i. Such Lysosomal Storage Disorders (LSDs) for which Enzyme Replacement
Therapy (ERT) is presently not available and severe form of
Mucopolysaccharoidosis (MPS) type I within first 2 years of age.
ii. Adrenoleukodystrophy (early stages), before the onset of hard neurological
signs.

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 iii. Immune deficiency disorders like Severe Combined Immunodeficiency
(SCID), Chronic Granulomatous disease, Wiskot Aldrich Syndrome etc.
iv. Osteopetrosis
v. Fanconi Anemia

b) Disorders amenable to organ transplantation

i. Liver Transplantation -Metabolic Liver diseases:

a. Tyrosinemia,
b. Glycogen storage disorders (GSD) I, III and IV due to poor
metabolic control, multiple liver adenomas, or high risk for
Hepatocellualr carcinoma or evidence of substantial cirrhosis or
liver dysfunction or progressive liver failure,
c. MSUD (Maple Syrup Urine Disease),
d. Urea cycle disorders,
e. Organic acidemias.

ii. Renal Transplantation-

a. Fabry disease
b. Autosomal recessive Polycystic Kidney Disease (ARPKD),
c. Autosomal dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD) etc.
iii. Patients requiring combined liver and kidney transplants can also be
considered if the same ceiling of funds is maintained. (Rarely Methyl
Malonicaciduria may require combined liver & Kidney transplant) etc.

Group 2: Diseases requiring long term / lifelong treatment having relatively lower cost
of treatment and benefit has been documented in literature and annual or more
frequent surveillance is required:

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a) Disorders managed with special dietary formulae or Food for special medical
purposes (FSMP)

i) Phenylketonuria (PKU)
ii) Non-PKU hyperphenylalaninemia conditions
iii) Maple Syrup Urine Disease (MSUD)
iv) Tyrosinemia type 1 and 2
v) Homocystinuria
vi) Urea Cycle Enzyme defects
vii) Glutaric Aciduria type 1 and 2
viii) Methyl Malonic Acidemia
ix) Propionic Acidemia
x) Isovaleric Acidemia
xi) Leucine sensitive hypoglycemia
xii) Galactosemia
xiii) Glucose galactose malabsorbtion
xiv)Severe Food protein allergy

b) Disorders that are amenable to other forms of therapy (hormone/ specific drugs)

i) NTBC for Tyrosinemia Type 1

ii) Osteogenes isImperfecta – Bisphosphonates therapy
iii) Growth Hormone therapy for proven GH deficiency, Prader Willi
Syndrome, Turner syndrome and Noonan syndrome.
iv) Cystic Fibrosis- Pancreatic enzyme supplement
v) Primary Immune deficiency disorders -Intravenous immunoglobulin and
sub cutaneous therapy (IVIG) replacement eg. X-linked
agammablobulinemia etc.

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 vi) Sodium Benzoate, arginine, citrulline, phenylacetate (Urea Cycle
disorders), carbaglu, Megavitamin therapy (Organic acidemias,
mitochondrial disorders)
vii) Others - Hemin (Panhematin) for Acute Intermittent Porphyria, High
dose Hydroxocobalamin injections (30mg/ml formulation – not
available in India and hence expensive if imported)
viii) Large neutral aminoacids, mitochondrial cocktail therapy,
Sapropterin and other such molecules of proven clinical management
in a subset of disorders

Group 3: Diseases for which definitive treatment is available but challenges are to
make optimal patient selection for benefit, very high cost and lifelong therapy.

3a) Based on the literature sufficient evidence for good long-term outcomes exists for
the following disorders

1. Gaucher Disease (Type I & III {without significant neurological impairment})

2. Hurler Syndrome [Mucopolysaccharisosis (MPS) Type I] (attenuated forms)
3. Hunter syndrome (MPS II) (attenuated form)
4. Pompe Disease (Both infantile & late onsetdiagnosed early before
development of complications)
5. Fabry Disease diagnosed before significant end organ damage.
6. MPS IVA before development of disease complications.
7. MPS VI before development of disease complications.
8. DNAase for Cystic Fibrosis.

3b) For the following disorders for which the cost of treatment is very high and either
long term follow up literature is awaited or has been done on small number of
patients

1. Cystic Fibrosis (Potentiators)

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 2. Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (Antesensce oligoneucletides, PTC)
3. Spinal Muscular Atrophy (Antisense oligonucleotides both intravenous & oral
& gene therapy)
4. Wolman Disease
5. Hypophosphatasia
6. Neuronal ceroid lipofuschinosis

6.3. The list of diseases under Group 1, Group 2 and Group 3 are not exhaustive and will be
reviewed periodically based on updated scientific data by the Technical Committee.

7. Policy Direction

The policy aims at lowering the incidence and prevalence of rare diseases based
on an integrated and comprehensive preventive strategy encompassing awareness
generation, premarital, post-marital, pre-conception and post-conception screening and
counselling programmes to prevent births of children with rare diseases, and within the
constraints on resources and competing health care priorities, enable access to
affordable health care to patients of rare diseases which are amenable to one-time
treatment or relatively low cost therapy.

Considering the limited data available on rare diseases, and in the light of
competing health priorities, the focus would be on prevention of rare diseases as a
priority for all the three groups of rare diseases identified by Experts. Public Health and
hospitals being a State subject, the Central Government would encourage & support the
States in their endeavour towards screening and prevention of rare diseases through
Centres of Excellence under Rare Disease Policy and Nidan Kendras under Department of
Biotechnology.

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8. Prevention & Control of Rare Diseases:

8.1 Capacity building of health professionals

The Central Government will work with the State governments to build capacity of health
professionals at various levels. The content of such capacity building would be based on
the roles of various health professionals. The Centres of Excellence would develop
Standard Operating Protocols to be used at various levels of care for patients with rare
diseases to improve early diagnosis, better care coordination and quality of life.

8.2 Prevention at different levels

Though in the last two decades, due to advancement in technologies, understanding of

the pathophysiological mechanisms of rare genetic disorders has somewhat improved,
yet the treatment modalities are few and the available therapies may not lead to “cure’.
More importantly, these are exorbitantly costly and not universally available &
accessible. Accordingly, prevention needs to be the focus for all genetic disorders. The
prevention of genetic disorders can be done at multiple levels. For application of these
strategies, the first step is to build the capacity of health professionals and increase
awareness in the population at large about the prevalence of such diseases and
prevention measures. Frontline workers will be adequately capacitated for screening of
rare diseases. Adequate IEC material will be designed and made available across multiple
levels of the health care pyramid as this forms a basic pillar of tackling the issue of limited
awareness.
8.2.1 : Primary Prevention: This aims at preventing the occurrence of the disease, i.e.,

preventing birth of an affected child. Though not always feasible, this strategy yields the
highest returns in terms of decreasing the incidence & prevalence of rare disorders in the
population in the long run. Some of the strategies can be as follows:
Examples include avoidance of pregnancy in advanced age, or any other rare monogenic
disorder by not marrying a carrier, carrier couples not reproducing etc., but these are not
feasible options in the real world scenario. So in most situations the feasible preventive

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strategy is secondary prevention. However, a simple checklist will be made available to
primary health care providers in the health and wellness clinics to identify a couple at risk
based on disease in a previous sib or family history of that disorder.

8.2.2 : Secondary prevention: This strategy focuses on avoiding the birth of affected fetus

(prenatal screening and prenatal diagnosis), early detection of the disorders, appropriate
medical intervention to ameliorate or minimize the manifestations (newborn screening).

a) Prenatal screening: The common screening methods presently recommended for

all pregnancies include biochemical screening and ultrasonography for
chromosomal disorders like Down syndrome etc. and ultrasonography for other
structural defects. In the context of rare diseases, objective of the prenatal
screening and diagnosis is to identify the high risk mothers for having an affected
fetus with a rare disease. These mothers can be identified based on the family
history (previous affected child or affected relative with a known or suspected
genetic disorder). Based on the suspected disease a targeted screening of the
affected child or couple for a specific disorder or a carrier testing for monogenic
disorders using next generation sequencing technique can be offered, the latter
being presently expensive.

b) Prenatal diagnosis by invasive testing (e.g., by Chorionic villus sampling and

amniocentesis): is possible for any single-gene disorder if the disease causing
variant in the gene/enzyme defect is known and for any chromosomal abnormality.
Most common indications are known single gene disorders or chromosomal
abnormality in a previous affected child in the family. These tests can also be
offered if the married couple is found to be carrier for any single gene disorder and
mutations have been identified in the couple. Now a day, prenatal diagnosis for
above mentioned disorders are widely available in India at many institutions. The
invasive procedures are performed by obstetricians and fetal

18
 medicine experts. These procedures, however, carry a small risk of fetal loss which
is very low if done by experienced specialists. This has to be explained to the family
before the procedure. Cost would primarily depend on the type of the test to be
performed on the sample. If the fetus is found to be affected, the couple has the
option for termination of pregnancy, the legal age of which in India has been
increased to 24 weeks of pregnancy.

c) Newborn screening(NBS): is the best example of secondary prevention in which the

babies are screened within few days of birth before symptoms of the disease
manifest and treatment is initiated which prevents morbidity and mortality. In the
developed world NBS is being offered for many rare disorders particularly the
treatable ones (e.g., LSDs, SCID) apart from the common disorders.

d) Early postnatal diagnosis and treatment: before development of severe

manifestations /complications which are irreversible is also included in secondary
prevention for disorders amenable to therapy which would require increasing
awareness and better availability of diagnostics. Timely referral of the suspected
patients & their families to appropriate facilities that are equipped to make a
correct diagnosis and where indicated, initiate treatment is the key. Genetic testing
will also be augmented by laboratories under the National Genomics Core funded
by the Department of Biotechnology and Institute of Genomics and Integrative
Biology (IGIB) & Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) under CSIR.

8.2.3 : Tertiary prevention refers to provision of better care and medical rehabilitation to

those rare disease patients who present at an advanced stage of the disease. It
encompasses providing best supportive care to the affected patients with various rare
disorders including the ones for which no specific treatment is available. This would
improve quality of life of affected individuals and families. Supportive care includes
developmental assessment and intervention including early stimulation and behavioural

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intervention, physical therapy and rehabilitation, provision of visual and hearing aids and
above all emotional and psychological support to affected individuals and families.

8.2.4 : Optimal screening and diagnosis strategy: Considering the competing priorities
within available resources, universal screening of all pregnancies and/or all newborns in
the country for all rare disorders is not feasible. The policy recommends a screening and
diagnostic strategy wherein those pregnant women in whom there is a history of a child
born with a rare disease and that rare disease diagnosis has been confirmed, would be
offered prenatal screening test(s) through amniocentesis and / or chorionic villi sampling.
This strategy is in sync with the policy direction of reducing the incidence of rare diseases
in the population. In cases where, the diagnosis could not be established during the
prenatal period, it would be imperative to offer to the newborn or the infant as the case
may be and would include newborn screening for (a) small molecule Inborn Errors of
Metabolism by liquid chromatography – tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), (b)
diagnosis of SCID by T cell receptor excision circles (TREC) and (c) diagnosis of lysosomal
storage disorders (LSDs) by microfluids / LC-MS/ MS. (d) diagnosis of disorders by newer
but economical molecular diagnostic platforms.

9. Centres of Excellence (COE) and Nidan Kendras

9.1 The Government will notify selected Centres of Excellence, which will be premier
Government tertiary hospitals with facilities for diagnosis, prevention and treatment of
rare diseases. To begin with, the following institutes would be notified as Centers of
Excellence for Rare Diseases:

a) All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi

b) Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi
c) Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow
d) Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh
e) Centre for DNA Fingerprinting & Diagnostics with Nizam’s Institute of Medical
Sciences, Hyderabad
f) King Edward Medical Hospital, Mumbai

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 g) Institute of Post-Graduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata
h) Center for Human Genetics (CHG) with Indira Gandhi Hospital, Bengaluru

However, more Centres of Excellence can be added for regional outreach if they are
found to be suitable in terms of infrastructure and human resources based on
recommendations of technical committee.

9.2 The responsibilities and activities of the COEs would be as follows:

 Education & Training at all levels

 Screening – Antenatal, neonatal (specified disorders), High risk screening
(Both antenatal & in newborns and children)
 Diagnostics- Cytogenetic, molecular, Metabolic
 Prevention by prenatal screening &diagnosis
 Research in the area of low cost diagnostics & therapeutics.
 Treatment of rare diseases.

9.3 The proposed COEs shall be given one-time financial support up to a ceiling of Rs 5
crore for procurement of equipment as per individual centers need for strengthening
patient care services for screening, diagnosis and prevention (prenatal diagnosis) of rare
diseases based on a gap analysis. The list of equipments which are likely to be useful for
these activities is annexed.
9.4 These Centre of Excellence will take the required decision for treatment and fund
allocation on rare diseases cases within 02 weeks of receiving the fresh application.

9.5 Nidan Kendras: Nidan Kendras have been set up by Department of Biotechnology (DBT)
under Unique Methods of Management and treatment of Inherited Disorders (UMMID)
project for genetic testing and counseling services. These Nidan Kendras will be performing
screening, genetic testing and counseling for rare diseases. Nidan Kendras possessing the
facility for treatment may do so under the guidance and supervision of a CoE.

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List of Nidan Kendras is given below:

 Lady Hardinge Medical College (LHMC), Delhi

 Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), Hyderabad, Telangana
 All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Jodhpur
 Army Hospital Research & Referral, Delhi
 Nil Ratan Sircar (NRS) Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata

Currently Nidan Kendras/Mentor Institutes are supporting aspirational districts for

screening of rare diseases. List of aspirational districts covered under the programme is
given below:

Name of the Mentor Institute Aspirational District State

LHMC, New Delhi Mewat Haryana

CDFD, Hyderabad Yadgir Karanataka

AIIMS, New Delhi Haridwar Uttarakhand

CMC, Vellore Washim Maharashtra

MAMC, New Delhi Ranchi / Bokaro Jharkhand

SGPGIMS, Lucknow Shrawasti Uttar Pradesh

NIIH (KEM hospital campus), Mumbai Nandurbar Maharashtra

More aspirational districts will be covered in future either by setting up of more Nidan
Kendras or by adopting more than one aspirational districts by existing Nidan Kendras.

10. Government of India support in treatment

The following initiatives shall be taken for patients of Rare Diseases:

i. Financial support upto Rs. 20 lakh under the Umbrella Scheme of Rashtriya
Arogaya Nidhi shall be provided by the Central Government for treatment, of
those rare diseases that require a one-time treatment (diseases listed under
Group 1). Beneficiaries for such financial assistance would not be limited to BPL
families, but extended to about 40% of the population, who are eligible as per

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 norms of Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, for their treatment in Government
tertiary hospitals only.
ii. State Governments can consider supporting patients of such rare diseases that
can be managed with special diets or hormonal supplements or other relatively
low cost interventions (Diseases listed under Group 2).

iii. Keeping in view the resource constraints, and a compelling need to prioritize the
available resources to get maximum health gains for the community/population,
the Government will endeavour to create alternate funding mechanism through
setting up a digital platform for voluntary individual and corporate donors to
contribute to the treatment cost of patients of rare diseases.

iv. Voluntary crowd-funding for treatment

Keeping in view the resource constraint and competing health priorities, it will be
difficult for the Government to fully finance treatment of high cost rare diseases.
The gap can however be filled by creating a digital platform for bringing together
notified hospitals where such patients are receiving treatment or come for
treatment, on the one hand, and prospective individual or corporate donors
willing to support treatment of such patients. The notified hospitals will share
information relating to the patients, diseases from which they are suffering,
estimated cost of treatment and details of bank accounts for donation/
contribution through online system. Donors will be able to view the details of
patients and donate funds to a particular hospital. This will enable donors from
various sections of the society to donate funds, which will be utilized for
treatment of patients suffering from rare diseases, especially those under
Group 3. Conferences will be organised with corporate sector companies to
motivate them to donate generously through digital platform. Ministry of
Corporate Affairs will be requested to encourage PSUs and corporate houses to
contribute as per the Companies Act as well as the provisions of the Companies
(Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Rules, 2014 (CSR Rules). Promoting health

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 care including preventive health care is included in the list in the Schedule for CSR
activities.

Treatment cost of the patient will be first charge on this fund. Any leftover fund
after meeting treatment cost can be utilized for research purpose also.

11. Development of manpower

Following initiatives will be taken for strengthening of manpower:

 State Governments will be requested to create Department of Medical

Genetics at least in one medical college in the State for imparting education
and increasing awareness amongst health care professionals.
 Services of Nidan Kendras set up under Department of Biotechnology will also
be utilised for training of medical practitioners and staff for screening for rare
diseases.

12. Constitution of Consortium

(a) Consortium of Centres of Excellence so created will synchronize prevention

and treatment efforts. AIIMS, Delhi will be the nodal hospital to coordinate with other
Centres of Excellence for various activities relating to prevention and treatment of rare
disease.

(b) National Consortium for Research and Development on therapeutics for Rare
Diseases: National Consortium can be provided with an expanded mandate to include
research & development, technology transfer and indigenization of therapeutics for rare
diseases. It will be convened by Department of Health Research (DHR) with ICMR as a
member.

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13. Increasing affordability of drug related to rare diseases

(a) Research & Development activities on rare diseases

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Department of Biotechnology, Department of

Pharmaceuticals, Department of science and Technology and Council of Scientific &
Industrial Research will be requested to promote research and development in the field
of rare diseases for diagnosis and treatment of rare diseases.

Creation of an integrated research pipeline to start the development of new drugs, for
which pharmaceutical companies would be encouraged and research organizations as
well as funding agencies would be involved in this important endeavour. Research for
repurposing the drugs and use of biosimilar would be encouraged. Approval for new
drugs and decision related to trials will continue to be provided by Drugs Controller
General of India under the New Drugs and Clinical Trial Rules, 2019.

(b) Ministry of Finance will be requested for reduction in custom duties on import of
medicines related to rare diseases.

(c) Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Department of Pharmaceutical (DoP), National

Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) shall take measures to document and make
publicly available the prices of drugs for rare diseases and work towards affordability of
drugs for rare diseases, in consultation with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

(d) Measures for creating conducive environment for indigenous manufacturing of drugs
for rare diseases would be taken. Department of Pharmaceuticals, Department for
Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) will be requested to promote local
development and manufacture of drugs for rare diseases at affordable prices and take
legal/legislative measures for creating conducive environment for indigenous
manufacturing of drugs for rare diseases at affordable prices. PSUs would be encouraged
for local manufacturing of drugs for rare diseases.

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14. Implementation strategy

Keeping in view lack of availability of epidemiological data on rare diseases,

constraints on resources and competing health priorities, the focus of the Government
will be on the following:

i. The Government will have a hospital based National Registry for Rare Diseases at
ICMR with the objective of creating a database of various rare diseases. Steps
have already been taken in this direction by ICMR. Over a period of time, the
registry is expected to yield information on hospital based data and disease
burden.
ii. The Government shall take steps to create awareness amongst all the levels of
health care personnel as well as general public towards the rare diseases. This will
encourage people to seek pre-marital genetic counselling, identification of high-
risk couples & families and also result in prevention of births as well as early
detection of cases of rare diseases. Simple standard protocols/algorithms would
be developed for screening and diagnosis in order to avoid missing cases and
provide best possible management.
iii. Public Health and hospitals being a State subject, the Central Government shall
encourage and support the State Governments in implementation of a targeted
preventive strategy.
iv. The Government shall provide financial assistance upto Rs. 20.00 lakh (under the
Umbrella Scheme of Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi) to the entitled population, as per
PMJAY norms, for their treatment in Government tertiary hospital, for rare
diseases amenable to one-time treatment (identified under Group 1).
v. The State Governments may undertake treatment of disorders managed with
special dietary formulae or food for special medical purposes (FSMP) and
Disorders that are amenable to other forms of therapy (hormone/ specific drugs)-
diseases covered under Group 2.
vi. The Government shall notify selected Centres of Excellence at premier government
hospitals for comprehensive management of rare diseases. The Centres of
Excellence will be provided one time grant subject to maximum of Rs. 5 crore

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 each for infrastructure development for screening, tests, treatment, if such
infrastructure is not available.

vii. The Government shall create a digital platform for bringing together notified
Centres of Excellence where patients of rare diseases can receive treatment or
come for treatment, on the one hand and prospective voluntary individual or
corporate donors willing to support treatment of such patients. Funds received
through this mechanism will be utilized for treatment of patients suffering from
rare diseases.
viii. In order to maintain transparency of transactions in provision of funding under
RAN/ crowd funding etc., the Centres of Excellence receiving the funds should
have linkages with the ICMR registry.
ix. The Government shall facilitate the creation of an enabling environment that
promotes research & development of diagnostic and therapeutic modalities
within the Country. Consortium of Centres of Excellence shall be created so that
research efforts are synchronized. AIIMS, Delhi will be nodal hospital to
coordinate with other Centres of Excellence for various activities.
x. State Governments will be requested to create Department of Medical Genetics
at least in one medical college in the State for imparting education and increasing
awareness amongst health care professionals. This will strengthen manpower
base in the country for managing Rare Diseases.
xi. Department of Pharmaceuticals, Department for Promotion of Industry and
Internal Trade (DPIIT) will be requested to promote local development and
manufacture of drugs for rare diseases by public and private sector
pharmaceutical companies at affordable prices and take legal/legislative
measures for creating conducive environment for indigenous manufacturing of
drugs for rare diseases at affordable prices. PSUs could also be encouraged for
local manufacturing of drugs for rare diseases.
xii. Ministry of Finance will be requested for reduction in custom duties on import of
medicines related to rare diseases.

*****

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 Annexure

Suggestive List of Equipment, which may be required for strengthening of patient services at
Centres of Excellence for screening, diagnosis and prevention (prenatal diagnosis) of rare
disease.

 Cytogenetic workstation with software with Fluorescent in situ hybridization

 Multimode readers for both ELISA and fluorescent enzyme assays
 DNA Sequencer with 8 capillary sequencer
 Mi Seq next generation sequencer
 Next Seq next generation sequencer
 Liquid chromatography Mass Spectroscopy (Tandem Mass Spectrometry)
 HPLC (quarternery pump high Performance Liquid Chromatography)
 GCMS (gas chromatography Mass Spectrometry)
 Microfluidics platform
 Real Time PCR (96 well format) for real time polymerase chain reaction
 High throughput rNA and DNA extraction systems
 Quality Check stations and microtips station
 Chromosomal Micro array platform
 Newborn Screening platfrom for fluroimmunoassay
 Antenatal screening equipment (one stop screening for pre-ecclampsia and chromosomal
aneuploidies)
 Bio-informatics set up for Nest generation data analysis using High End desktop
 Eonis tm system for DNA based newborn screening for rare disorders
 Capillary Electrophoresis system for newborn screening of hemoglobinopathies
 Upgradation of existing equipment’s may also be considered to save costs benefiting a larger
section
 Any other with permission of the MOHFW with proper justification and as decided by a
technical committee of experts set up by MoHFW.

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