The orphan designation was the result of the Orphan Drug Act of 1983, which facilitates the development of treatments for diseases affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the United States. Congress passed the act because markets are small for rare conditions, and companies are often not motivated to develop therapies for them.

Orphan status is granted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The European Medicines Agency provides similar benefits for rare-disease therapies being developed in Europe.

Most emerging therapies in clinical trials for inherited retinal diseases have received orphan status, including Oxford BioMedica’s gene therapies for Stargardt disease and Usher syndrome type 1B and Advanced Cell Technology’s stem cell treatment for Stargardt disease.

I am always quick to point out the irony that rare diseases aren’t all that rare. As I mentioned in a blog post on Rare Disease Day — February 29, 2102 — there are more than 7,000 rare diseases, and one in 10 Americans is affected by one. Chances are that you or someone you know is affected by a rare disease, and will someday benefit from orphan-designated therapies.

Back in February, in a post noting Rare Disease Day, I mentioned how the Foundation’s research has applications that go beyond our purview, mainly because the retina is, in fact, neural tissue, or an extension of the brain. So some treatments we fund may someday help people with conditions unrelated to the eye.

Well, this post, over at The Wall Street Journal , plays on that same theme while featuring Joshua Boger, a gentleman we’ll honor with a Visionary Award at our upcoming Boston Dining in the Dark. I invite you to take a look at the Journal post.