Charles Moore,  —

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this week released a new draft guidance document intended to clarify the development process for new Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy drug treatments. The purpose of this guidance is to assist sponsors in clinical development of drugs treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and…

Massachusetts-based charity the FSH Society, dedicated to shedding light on the acioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) — a little-known variant of the incurable disorder, has been awarded its seventh consecutive Charity Navigator four-star rating. Only two percent of the charities rated by the Charity Navigator — an independent nonprofit…

A lightweight robotic glove developed by engineers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) in Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts is bringing the ultimate goal of providing muscle and neurologically impaired patients with the ability to…

Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. , a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing innovative RNA-based therapeutics, has announced a pre-New Drug Application (NDA) meeting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) pertaining to its lead product candidate eteplirsen — a Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) treatment. Sarepta and the agency are agreed…

The Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) announced May 1 that after careful consideration and analysis of evolving realities pertaining to both television viewing habits and to philanthropic giving, it is time for the organization to discontinue producing and broadcasting the MDA telethon after 58 years on the air, and move…

For most of us, using a smartphone is pretty intuitive, simply requiring touch input on the display to operate the device. However, for persons with disabilities of the upper extremities that cause difficulty using their hands and fingers, smartphones are considerably less simple to manipulate. Samsung Electronics has recently announced…

Japan’s Cyberdyne, Inc. has applied for marketing authorization of their HAL for Medical Use (Lower Limb Type) robot exoskeleton as a new medical device for orphan neural-muscular diseases, such as muscular dystrophy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and others under Japan’s Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Law (PMDL). Under the law,…

The Telegraph‘s Science Editor Sarah Knapton reported last week that the first baby has been born following application of a new In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) technique developed by a team of fertility doctors in London. The new IVF procedure checks embryos for genetic disorders such as the one young…

Researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio have developed a method for measurement of upper extremity movement in muscular dystrophy patients that employs interactive video game technology. The objective is an expansion of inclusion criteria for patients using wheelchairs who participate in clinical trials. Duchenne muscular dystrophy,…

The “Solid Suit” is actually designed to be soft, like the one pictured above, and could be worn by people with DMD under their clothes. Hackensack, N.J. based nonprofit Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy (PPMD), which is dedicated to fighting and eventually prevailing over Duchenne muscular dystrophy…