Sarepta Therapeutics Inc.’s miss on a key phase II ambulatory endpoint in its Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) trial may have been caused by a dramatic disparity in functional ability at baseline among older vs. younger patients afflicted with the progressively worsening disorder. In any case, Wall Street had knives out, carving 51% of the value away from shares (NASDAQ:SRPT) of the Cambridge, Mass.-based firm, which closed at $82.29, a loss of $86.66, or 51%.
Precision Biosciences Inc. CEO Matthew Kane said the company is in “active discussions around additional partnerships in vivo and in other areas across our organization,” after scoring a deal with Eli Lilly and Co. centered on the firm’s Arcus genome-editing platform. “There’s no conceivable way in the near term that we’re going to advance all of the possibilities of Arcus on our own,” he said.
Solid Biosciences Inc. already has its own Duchenne muscular dystrophy program, but with some new investment money it is plunging into a collaboration with Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. to co-create another program. The two will collaborate on developing and commercializing new gene therapies for treating Duchenne muscular dystrophy as Novato, Calif.-based Ultragenyx is investing $40 million in Solid.
HONG KONG – Belgium-based Bone Therapeutics SA has inked development and commercialization deals for its bone cell therapy platform in Chinese and Southeast Asian markets.
Scribe Therapeutics Inc., another CRISPR-based genome editing firm out of the Jennifer Doudna stable, launched with $20 million in series A funding and a deal with Biogen Inc. in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which brings in another $15 million up front and up to $400 million in development and commercial milestones.
Both Solid Biosciences Inc. and Pfizer Inc. got lifts to their Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) programs from the FDA as the agency released a clinical hold and awarded a fast track designation to their respective adeno-associated viral (AAV) programs.
PERTH, Australia – Antisense Therapeutics Ltd. saw its stock bounce 26% following the news that the FDA has granted rare pediatric disease designation for ATL-1102 for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), following submission of phase II data that showed its immunomodulatory therapy met primary disease progression endpoints.
Positive top-line data from Blueprint Medicines Corp.’s phase I and II trials of Ayvakit (avapritinib) for treating advanced systemic mastocytosis (SM) are pushing the company to submit an sNDA before 2020 ends.
Researchers at the University of California at San Diego have used RNA-targeted CRISPR to reverse symptoms in an animal model of myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1). They reported their findings in the Sept. 14, 2020, issue of Nature Biomedical Engineering.
In the more than two years since Casma Therapeutics Inc. raised its series A and completed its new $50 million series B, the company has advanced its agonist program for treating muscular dystrophy and identified new targets.
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