The BioWorld Neurological Diseases Index continued its downward slide into 2025, with 15 of the 20 component stocks posting losses. After dipping into negative territory in late February, the index dropped 15.99% by the end of March and closed May down 22.34%.
The BioWorld Biopharmaceutical Index extended its downward trend over April and May, closing the latter month down 6.47% after reaching a peak gain of 9.64% at the end of February. The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index followed a similar trajectory, finishing May with a 5.37% decline. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped through April but rebounded slightly in May, ending the month down 0.64%.
Regenxbio Inc.’s gene therapy in treating Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) produced positive initial phase I/II results from its first five patients. However, the company’s stock (NASDAQ:RGNX) shuddered on June 5 as shares closed at $8.36 each, a drop of 17% on the day.
The U.S. FDA gave Sarepta Therapeutics Inc.’s rAAVrh74 viral vector, used in an investigational gene therapy for the treatment of limb-girdle muscular dystrophy, a step up, making it one of the first platforms to receive the agency’s platform technology designation.
The appointment May 6 of Vinay Prasad as the head of the U.S. FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) “bodes poorly” for Sarepta Therapeutics Inc.’s development-stage pipeline, said Wainwright analyst Mitchell Kapoor – and Wall Street reflected as much, as the stock (NASDAQ:SRPT) ended that day down 26.6% vs. an XBI drop of 6.6% – this ahead of the after-hours earnings disclosure that pushed the Cambridge, Mass.-based firm down even farther by more than another 20%, with the XBI unchanged.
Wall Street was weighing the gravity of the death from acute liver failure of a patient who was treated for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) with Sarepta Therapeutics Inc.’s gene therapy, Elevidys (delandistrogene moxeparvovec). Liver injury is a known possible side effect of the product, first approved by the U.S. FDA in June 2023 for DMD, as well as other AAV-mediated gene therapies, and the potential problem is highlighted in Elevidys’ prescribing information.
The U.S. FDA needs to strengthen the guardrails along the accelerated approval pathway to ensure its “appropriate and consistent use,” the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) said in a report released Jan. 14.
The BioWorld Biopharmaceutical Index (BBI) closed November with a modest 3.58% gain for the year, a sharp decline from its 16.92% rise in September and peak of 25.19% in August. The BBI has now fallen behind the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index, which posted a 6.27% year-to-date gain, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average, up 19.16% at the end of the month.
Sarepta Therapeutics Inc. has signed a licensing and collaboration agreement with Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Inc. to obtain exclusive global rights to multiple clinical, preclinical and discovery-stage programs for rare genetic diseases of the muscle, central nervous system (CNS) and the lungs. The deal includes ARO-DUX4, ARO-DM1, ARO-MMP7 and ARO-ATXN2.
