Author Archives: Grace Frank

The European Commission has granted orphan drug designation to viltolarsen, a treatment for people with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) amenable to exon 53 skipping, Nippon Shinyaku announced in a press release. The designation is given to medicinal compounds meant to treat rare conditions that are life-threatening or…

While there are few silver linings to the cloud created by COVID-19, the pandemic that has killed tens of thousands, hobbled economies worldwide and drove millions to quarantine in their homes, one may be a new appreciation of telemedicine. “If something good could come out of this crisis, it’s that…

Expecting to award roughly $18 million in grants in 2020 to support research across neuromuscular diseases, the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) continues to be a leader in efforts to better treat and otherwise ease life for those touched by muscular dystrophy and numerous other, often rare, illnesses.

Gene therapies — after a tragedy kicked them back to the lab some two decades ago — are beginning to come into their own, making possible work in gene-targeted and combination treatments for neuromuscular diseases once unimaginable. But many challenges — from the likelihood of no “one and done” gene…

Screening newborns for genetic diseases with treatments that can prevent crippling or deadly progression, especially for rare disorders, has a ways to go in the United States. No state today tests for all 35 disorders recommended under a federal screening panel, and even in those that come close, rare…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has placed a clinical hold on a Phase 1/2 trial testing SGT-001, a dystrophin gene therapy intended to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), after the first patient dosed was hospitalized with a possibly serious reaction. Solid Biosciences, the therapy’s developer, announced that within days…

Just days after Emflaza (deflazacort) became the first corticosteroid approved in the U.S. to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) regardless of mutation, the drug’s developer, Marathon Pharmaceuticals, announced it is “temporarily pausing” its sale in the U.S. to address concerns among the DMD community, particularly about the therapy’s high list price…

Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc., announced that a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee has been forced to postpone Friday’s scheduled hearing to review the company’s New Drug Application (NDA) for eteplirsen, a potential treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) amenable to exon 51 skipping. A severe winter storm starting…