(WBOY) — Every year since 2008, Rare Disease Day has been held on the last day of February to raise awareness about the research that goes into rare diseases like spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).

Nearly six years ago, the Food and Drug Administration approved Zolgensma, a Novartis gene therapy for the fatal neuron-wasting disease spinal muscular atrophy. It heralded a new era of genetic ...