Robert Derham, Founder of CheckOrphan, discusses some of the misconceptions regarding drug makers' patent exclusivity and the Orphan Drug Act.

The Orphan Drug Act of 1983 is a law passed in the United States to facilitate development of orphan drugs — drugs for rare diseases such as Huntington's Disease, myoclonus, ALS, Tourette syndrome and muscular dystrophy which affect small numbers of individuals residing in the United States.

Orphan drug designation does not indicate that the therapeutic is either safe and effective or legal to manufacture and market in the United States. That process is handled through other offices in the US Food and Drug Administration. Instead, the designation means only that the sponsor qualifies for certain benefits from the federal government, such as reduced taxes.

In 1982 an informal coalition of supporters and families of patients with rare diseases who formed National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) and others, called for change to legislation to support development of orphan drugs, or drugs for treating rare diseases. They succeeded in getting the United States Congress to pass the Orphan Drug Act (ODA) in early 1983. Only thirty-eight orphan drugs had been approved prior to the 1983 Act; by 2014 "468 indication designations covering 373 drugs have been approved." Partly as a result of the 1983 US Orphan Drug Act, Japan adopted it in 1993 as did the European Union in 2000.

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