News

The use of tamoxifen and Evista (raloxifene) improved cardiac, respiratory, and skeletal muscle functions, and increased bone density in a mouse model of muscular dystrophy (MD), research from the Carolinas Medical Center suggests. The study, “Long-Term Treatment of Tamoxifen and Raloxifene Alleviates Dystrophic Phenotype and Enhances Muscle Functions of FKRP Dystroglycanopathy,”…

Magnetic nanotubes with a spear-like tip may enhance the precision and effectiveness of gene therapy delivery, a promising therapeutic strategy for many genetic diseases, including muscular dystrophy, according to UCLA researchers. The study, “Precision-Guided Nanospears for Targeted and High-Throughput Intracellular Gene Delivery,” was published in the journal ACS Nano.

The Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy (PPMD) is holding its 24th annual conference this year from June 27 to July 1 in Scottsdale, Arizona. Patients, families, physicians, industry partners, and other members of the community will gather at the event to discuss current issues related to Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy…

As new diagnostic tools and treatments help patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) live into adulthood, new challenges arise in areas like education, independence, personal relationships, health, and intimacy. To address the emerging needs of patients, caregivers and physicians of DMD patients, the Centers for Disease Control and…

AMO Pharma’s myotonic dystrophy treatment improved patients’ cognition, fatigue and  ability to perform daily tasks, a Phase 2 clinical trial showed. The therapy, AMO-02 (tideglusib), also improved patients’ autism symptoms. In addition, it was safe and patients tolerated it well. Dr. Joseph Horrigan, the company’s chief medical officer, presented the findings at…

Scientists are increasingly looking at gene therapies as potential treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. But there are a lot of ways to do them, and an expert in the field shed light on the subject in a webinar arranged by Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy (PPMD). Dr. Timothy Cripe discussed the…

Genetic sequencing and the speed with which it can help diagnose a child’s disease — in addition to revealing the genes that cause at least half of the 7,000 rare diseases currently known — was the focus of a discussion by three top New York geneticists. The Feb. 28 conference,…

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…

Sarepta Therapeutics will seek accelerated U.S. approval of a treatment for a subset of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients. Golodirsen (SRP-4053) is for patients whose disease stems from a deleted part of the DMD gene known as exon 53. Sarepta met with U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials in…

When it comes to rare diseases, one that definitely makes the list is spinal muscular atrophy with respiratory distress — SMARD,  for short. Hunter Pageau, a 12-year-old boy from North Haven, Connecticut, is one of only 80 people in the world known to have SMARD, a motor neuron disease…