Pharming, a Dutch biotechnology firm, recently began clinical trials for alpha-glucosidase, a product designed to treat Pompe's disease, a metabolic disorder causing fatal degeneration of muscle.

ECONOMIST: Rare diseases: Safety in numbers | The

Cantab Pharmaceuticals, a British biotechnology firm, has a genetically engineered vaccine now in clinical trials to protect against herpes simplex infection and reduce the recurrence of genital herpes.

ECONOMIST: Vaccines

The new study, published online in the journal Nature Biotechnology, represents an early example of how social networking could play a role in clinical trials, an area of medical science with strict procedures that many would consider especially difficult to apply in the online world.

WSJ: ALS Study Falls Short, But Use of Social Media Holds Promise