News

$25K grants will help nonprofits counter DMD healthcare disparities

Entrada Therapeutics has awarded $25,000 grants to three U.S. nonprofits to aid in their efforts to combat healthcare disparities in the Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) community. The goal of these nonprofits, as inaugural recipients of the biopharmaceutical company’s DREAMS — Diversity, Representation, Equity and Advocacy Matters — grant…

Application to market givinostat for DMD in Europe under review

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has started reviewing an application to market givinostat for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). “Now that our market authorization application is under review, we are looking forward to working with the regulatory authorities to bring this treatment option to patients,” Paolo Bettica, MD, PhD,…

MD community set to kick off awareness month in September

September will be a busy month for patients, supporters, doctors, and researchers in the muscular dystrophy (MD) community as they recognize National Muscular Dystrophy Awareness Month. Raising awareness and critical funds for the more than 300,000 families across the country with MD and related neuromuscular diseases is the goal…

Mitochondria a likely treatment target to stop MD progression

Blocking the activation of a channel in mitochondria, the cells’ powerhouses, may be a promising way to stop muscular dystrophy (MD) progression in a mouse model of the disease. “We have isolated the primary disease-causing component of muscular dystrophy to the mitochondrial permeability pore,” Jeffery Molkentin, PhD, co-executive director…

‘Fill the Boot’ campaign raising funds for MDA

More than 420 “Fill the Boot” events will raise money throughout Labor Day weekend to advance research and care for muscular dystrophy. The campaign results from a partnership between the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) and the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF). The firefighters go to…

AOC 1044 receives FDA orphan drug designation for DMD

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan drug designation to AOC 1044, an experimental exon 44-skipping therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) that’s being developed by Avidity Biosciences. Orphan drug designation is given to therapies with the potential to treat rare disorders, those that affect fewer…

Boy receives first post-approval dose of Elevidys at Nationwide

A 5-year-old boy has received an  infusion of Elevidys, the recently approved gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, where the treatment was first investigated. Gideon Griffiths of Bellefontaine, Ohio, who was diagnosed with DMD at birth, is among the first group of patients nationwide…