Myalepta

Myalepta is a medicine used in addition to diet to treat lipodystrophy, where patients have loss of fatty tissue under the skin and build-up of fat elsewhere in the body such as in the liver and muscles. The medicine is used in: - adults and children above the age of 2 years with generalised (throughout the body) lipodystrophy (Berardinelli-Seip syndrome and Lawrence syndrome); - adults and children above the age of 12 years with partial (localised) lipodystrophy (including Barraquer-Simons syndrome), when standard treatments have failed. Myalepta contains the active substance metreleptin. Because the number of patients with the various forms of lipodystrophy is low, the diseases are considered ‘rare’, and Myalepta was designated an ‘orphan medicine’ (a medicine used in rare diseases) on 17 July 2012. Further information on the orphan designations can be found on the European Medicines Agency’s website: ema.europa.eu/Find medicine/Human medicines/Rare disease designation ( [Bernardinelli-Seip syndrome](/en/medicines/human/orphan-designations/eu3121025): 17/07/12; [Lawrence syndrome](/en/medicines/human/orphan-designations/eu3121024): 17/07/12; [familial partial lipodystrophy](/en/medicines/human/orphan-designations/eu3121022): 17/07/12; [Barraquer-Simons syndrome](/en/medicines/human/orphan-designations/eu3121023): 17/07/12).