Immunologix Laboratories joins FSHD Society, SOLVE FSHD, and the FSHD CTRN in Launch of Industry Collaborative to Improve FSHD Clinical Trials

Yesterday was a milestone for the facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy community. The FSHD Society, SOLVE FSHD, and the FSHD Clinical Trial Research Network launched the FSHD Industry Collaborative, a pioneering effort that brings together drug development experts, academic researchers, technology partners, and funders with a common goal: improving how FSHD clinical trials serve patients.

FSHD affects about 1 in 8,333 people worldwide, and for too long, the path to effective treatments has been slowed by the challenges of trial design in this complex, heterogeneous disease. The Collaborative is a direct response to that gap. By analyzing biomarker, natural history, and clinical endpoint data across programs, the initiative aims to reduce clinical development risk, improve patient selection, enhance understanding and application of clinical measures, and create a more unified regulatory narrative for FSHD.

Immunologix Laboratories is named as a partner, providing biomarker assay development and expertise to support the work. We believe that the most meaningful progress in rare disease comes from this kind of effort.

As Collaborative Director Amanda M. Rickard noted, “This research collaboration creates a rigorous framework for generating insights that individual FSHD programs cannot achieve in isolation.”

Read the Press Release: https://www.fshdsociety.org/2026/04/08/industry-collab-launch/

Congratulations to everyone involved in making this launch happen, including Dr. Lucienne Ronco, Amanda M. Rickard, Dr. Lauren Stevenson, and Dr. John Canfield, PhD.

We’re looking forward to what this work produces for patients living with FSHD.