The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced a new $120 million, five-year program for development of new drugs to treat rare and neglected diseases, announced the U. S. health officials on Wednesday.

According to acting NIH director Dr. Raynard Kington, Congress has provided $24 million a year for five years to start this program called the Therapeutics for Rare and Neglected Diseases.

A rare disease has been categorized as one that affects fewer than 200,000 Americans. NIH estimates that there are about 6,800 of such conditions, ranging from multiple symmetric lipomatosis or Madelung's disease, characterized by large fat deposits in the region of the neck and nervous system abnormalities, to pseudomyxoma peritonei, in which tumor cells swell up the abdomen.

Out of these, approximately 200 conditions, affecting lesser than a dozen people, have treatments.

"We don't know yet exactly which diseases this program will take on," said Dr. Alan Guttmacher, acting director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, in his briefing.

"We have both the responsibility and the luxury of focusing on scientific and public health opportunity rather than financial opportunity," he added.