In this podcast, David Robins talks to Lauren Weinberg, Senior Associate at FIECON, about the patient journey, his experience as the father of Lexi who lives with Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva (FOP), and as a family after the FOP diagnosis.

FOP is an ultra-rare genetic condition and is one of the most debilitating conditions known to medicine. FOP causes the soft connective tissue of the body to turn into new bone.  When that occurs over or near joints, or within a muscle, it restricts the person’s movements.  This new bone, or ossification, can mean that the sufferer is eventually no longer able to move the joint.  Once movement has been lost in a part of the body, it is not possible to remove the new bone as that can aggravate the FOP and trigger further bone growth.
FOP is characterised by congenital malformations of the big toes and progressive heterotopic ossification (HO) in specific anatomic patterns. FOP is the most catastrophic disorder of HO in humans. Flare-ups are episodic; immobility is cumulative.  A common mutation in activin receptor IA (ACVR1), a bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) type I receptor, exists in all sporadic and familial cases with a classic presentation of FOP.

There is currently no treatment for FOP so investigating all avenues of research and finding more FOP doctors, who are willing to be educated about FOP, is essential.