EuOrphan aims at validating a web service (www.euorphan.com) for the distribution of a complete set of information concerning medicines designated and/or commercialized both in EU and non EU countries for the treatment of rare diseases. The dissemination of information on the orphan medicines concerns physicians, patients, and pharmaceutical companies involved in the development process, with particular reference to the SMEs. The project will ultimately support the European Legislation which came into force across the European Union in April 2000, to encourage commercial companies to bring orphan medicines to the market and to support the availability of orphan drugs to EU patients.
The service to be validated addresses four main user categories:
• Pharmaceutical companies, especially the SME and biotechnological companies, which constitute a relevant sector of the EC pharmaceutical market in the field of rare diseases.
• Public Health Institutions
• Physicians and researchers
• Patients and Associations

The project started in January 2005 and successfully concluded in June 2006.
EuOrphan final results have been shown at the Symposium on Rare Diseases and Orphan Drugs, held in Pavia, 9 June 2006.
Programme