Horizon Pharma plc (NASDAQ:HZNP), a biopharmaceutical company focused on improving patients’ lives by identifying, developing, acquiring and commercializing differentiated and accessible medicines that address unmet medical needs, announced the launch of RAREis™, an initiative that aims to elevate the voices, faces and experiences of people living with rare diseases, as well as Horizon’s programs and resources for the rare disease community.  The launch of RAREis coincided with international Rare Disease Day®, a global observance recognizing the approximately 350 million people worldwide living with a rare disease.

The RAREis campaign is anchored by an Instagram page that will showcase photos of people touched by rare disease and capture elements of their patient, caregiver or advocate experience.  In addition to the photos that Horizon will be sharing on its Instagram page, people throughout the rare disease community are encouraged to create their own RAREis photos and share via their preferred social media platform – whether Instagram, Facebook and/or Twitter – using the hashtag #RAREis.

“Rare is being courageous, tenacious and joyous,” said Cristina, mother of a child living with chronic granulomatous disease, a rare disease that hinders the body’s ability to fight infections.  “Living with a rare disease to us means not only hoping for a cure in the future but also living life joyfully in the now.”