Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc.
NEWS
Sarepta Therapeutics appears to have right-sized itself after laying off over a third of its staff, announcing a significant pipeline shift and adding a black box warning to its Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene therapy Elevidys.
Around 3,500 FDA employees received termination emails; FDA Commissioner Marty Makary suggests lowering industry user fees and tying review times to drug prices; the regulator opens its trove of complete response letters in the name of transparency; and two companies receive rejections for rare disease therapies.
A journey through the FDA’s newly released complete response letters gave glimpses into the journeys to market for Eli Lilly’s Alzheimer’s antibody Kisunla, Sarepta’s DMD gene therapy Vyondys 53 and Gilead’s HIV drug Sunlenca.
Another patient has died from acute liver failure after receiving Sarepta’s gene therapy for DMD ; After a quiet start to the year, M&A is back with one deal for a gene editing biotech reinvigorating that sector; and RFK Jr. installs a suite of new vaccine board members who share his skeptical views on vaccines.
Sarepta’s shares crashed 41% in premarket trading Monday morning to $21.01 after the biotech reported a second death from acute liver failure, a known side effect of adeno-associated virus-based gene therapies.
Since Elevidys’ accelerated approval in 2023, experts have been clamoring for more data, particularly in older and non-ambulatory children. New results, presented Friday, show mobility improvements in 8- to 9-year-old patients after one year of follow-up.
Several companies will head to the FDA seeking approval of new Duchenne muscular dystrophy treatments next year but the death of a patient taking Sarepta’s Elevidys raises important safety questions.
President Donald Trump continues to warn of tariffs on the pharmaceutical industry; Susan Monarez replaces Dave Weldon as CDC director nominee; Novo Nordisk joins the triple-G race; Alnylam wins approval for Amvuttra in ATTR-CM; and Cassava Sciences ends development of simufilam in Alzheimer’s.
After Sarepta reported the death of a patient who had recently taken the gene therapy Elevidys, patient advocacy group Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy stepped up—as they always do.
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