Telangana’s pharma expert shines in US, works for persons with rare diseases

Meet Dr Ramaiah Muthyala, who has become a voice for millions of voiceless persons suffering from rare diseases with his Indian Organization for Rare Diseases

Khammam: From the remote village of Pandithapuram in Khammam, to becoming a senior academic holding half a dozen faculty positions in a prestigious American university, this man’s journey is an inspiring tale.

Meet Dr. Ramaiah Muthyala, who has become a voice for millions of voiceless persons suffering from rare diseases with his Indian Organization for Rare Diseases (IORD) conceived in 2005 and incorporated as a not-for-profit organization in both India and USA.

---

He did his BSc at SR & BGNR College in the city. He holds two PhDs, one from University of Saugor, MP, India on isolation of drug molecules from plants and the second one from University of East Anglia, UK, on making synthetic drugs. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry as well.

He is a Senior Associate Director at Center for Drug Design, Associate Director at Center for Orphan Drug Development besides holding various other faculty positions at University of Minnesota, US, where he has an active lab as well. There are 13 patents registered in his name in the US.

Dr. Muthyala started his pharma industry career with Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited (IDPL), Hyderabad and CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune before moving to the US. “The journey was that easy. I had fallen and risen in the due course” he said.

He is now focusing his energies and time on creating awareness among people and official machinery about rare diseases. As the president of IORD he runs advocacy programs to identify persons with rare diseases, support them and help them to live as normally as possible.

Explaining what inspired him to establish the IORD and work for those with rare diseases, Dr. Muthyala told Telangana Today that it was his childhood memory of a neighborhood boy who struggled with a condition like Cerebral Palsy.

“I felt the sadness and longing in the eyes of the boy who lived with his widowed mother having orthodox beliefs. The child was ostracized because of his illness; He could not attend school and build friendships. I have not forgotten his plight,” he said, adding that he wanted to put his industry and academia experience and knowledge to use to help those in a condition like his childhood neighbor.

“My country has given me education and employment. I now wanted to give back to the country,” he said.

There are around 300 million persons worldwide with rare diseases with 90 million in India; Dr. Muthyla claimed adding that he wanted to involve government, professionals and common public in helping them. ‘You are not alone’ and ‘Each one, identify ten’ are the IORD’s slogans, he said.

Being a resident of Minnesota, he played a crucial role in the formation of the Rare Diseases Advisory Council (RDAC) in Minnesota State. “I will be happy if I am able to wipe away tears of a single parent with a child having a rare disease”, he added.

Telangana Govt Support to IORD

Recognizing Dr. Muthyala, the Telangana government has extended support to IORD in organizing the World Rare Diseases Day in Hyderabad in 2021. This year also the government is supporting the organization in conducting a ‘bikeathon’ and ‘walkathon’ at Necklace Road in the city on Feb 26.