orphan drug

orphanage

A person, especially a child, with only one living parent.

A medicinal drug which is effective in the treatment of some disease(s), but which is not manufactured or marketed because the demand is insufficient to cover the costs of supply.

plural of orphan disease

(physiology) A receptor that has a similar structure to other identified receptors but whose endogenous ligand has not yet been identified

Any disease for which drugs are not usually developed because it is too rare to make the development profitable.

plural of orphan drug

(astronomy) a star that is not part of any galaxy, but exists in intergalactic space instead

plural of orphan receptor