For interviews with TMA executive director or medical advisors, call TMA at 1-800-821-7356 or email [email protected]. Newswise — The Myositis Association is pleased to announce that Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. will be the National Sponsor of Myositis Awareness Day (September 21) in 2014. This annual recognition of the need for more awareness and education draws attention to the rare neuromuscular disease, myositis, also known as idiopathic inflammatory myopathy.

Questcor’s support of TMA over the past three years has allowed The Myositis Association to expand its physician and patient education activities. Among the programs benefitting from Questcor’s support are the publications Myositis 101 and Physician’s Guide to Myositis and the physician education programs, Visiting Professors and Lunch and Learn. TMA’s activities to support the 2014 Myositis Awareness Day will include mailings to 2,000 physicians with an interest in myositis and 45 myositis support groups nationwide. The mailings will include:•Myositis 101•Physician’s Guide to Myositis•Myositis Awareness car magnets and wristbands•Special Myositis Awareness Day newsletter•TMA myositis brochures•Referral pads for physicians to direct patients to TMA•Support group promotional posters•Myositis Awareness Day banners

It is well known that many patients benefit from the support of others and this is especially true of those who live with a rare, chronic disease such as myositis. Myositis Awareness Day and its related activities will, hopefully, enable patients diagnosed with myositis to find support from TMA’s support network. It is also hoped that those who have myositis but are not yet diagnosed, or are incorrectly diagnosed, will realize that they are suffering from a chronic disease requiring medical attention.Myositis is most often treated by a rheumatologist, neurologist or dermatologist. It is characterized by muscle weakness primarily in the quadriceps, shoulders, forearms and hands. Although there are treatments for dermatomyositis and polymyositis, there are no effective treatments for inclusion-body myositis at this time. Promising research is currently underway for new ways to treat all forms of myositis.

The Myositis Association, an international non-profit association, provides education and support for myositis patients and their families. TMA funds fellowships for young researchers and research projects, reviewed by internationally-recognized myositis experts, into better treatments and a potential cure for dermatomyositis, juvenile dermatomyositis, polymyositis and inclusion-body myositis.

To set up interviews with myositis patients, families and medical experts, or for more information about myositis, The Myositis Association, or Myositis Awareness Day, contact TMA at 1-800-821-7356 or [email protected].