Giacomo Chiesi, MBA, Head of Chiesi Global Rare Diseases, discusses a white paper titled, "The Burden of Rare Diseases: An Economic Evaluation," based on the results of a study which demonstrate that rare diseases impose substantial economic burden which can be reduced with availability of approved treatments.As Mr. Chiesi explains, the goals of the study were to qualify the macroeconomic societal costs of rare diseases, and whether this cost is affected by a rare disease having an available treatment. The results of the study indicate that for the 24 rare diseases selected, the total cost to society was approximately $125 billion with average overall economic burden PPPY of $266,000, which is approximately 10x the cost associated with mass market diseases ($26,000 PPPY). Overall, burden was generally driven by direct and mortality costs. The results also demonstrate that, when a treatment is approved for a rare disease, average overall economic burden PPPY decreases by 21.2% ($42 thousand), even when treatment cost is included.