Sarepta Announces FDA Acceptance of Golodirsen (SRP-4053) New Drug Application for Patients with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Amenable to Skipping Exon 53
Press release here: Sarepta.com
Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. announced the Food and Drug Administration, Division of Neurology had accepted its New Drug Application (NDA) seeking accelerated approval for golodirsen (SRP-4053) and provided a regulatory action date of August 19, 2019. Golodirsen is a phosphordiamidate morpholino oligomer* engineered to treat those individuals with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) who have genetic mutations subject to skipping exon 53 of the dystrophin gene.
The company completed its NDA at the end of 2018 as part of a rolling submission and requested priority review, which was granted. The company previously received orphan drug designation for golodirsen.
The study demonstrated statistically significant results in favour of golodirsen on all biological endpoints.
*a phosphorodiamidate Morpholino oligomer (PMO), is a type of oligomer molecule (colloquially, an oligo) used in molecular biology to modify gene expression.
Doug Ingram, president and chief executive officer, Sarepta: “If approved, golodirsen will serve up to another 8 percent of the Duchenne community, bringing us closer to helping as many Duchenne patients as possible.
We look forward to working with the FDA toward advancing this important therapy and rapidly bringing it to individuals with Duchenne who are amenable to exon 53 skipping.”
What is Golodirsen?
Golodirsen uses exon-skipping technology and works by binding to exon 53 of the dystrophin sequence to exclude, or skip, this part of the sequence. Exon skipping is intended to allow for the production of an internally truncated but functional dystrophin protein.
Positive results
Golodirsen showed potential to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) in a first clinical trial of DMD patients. Press release
Why do we need to skip an exon?
DMD is caused by specific errors (mutations) in the gene that codes for dystrophin. Dystrophin is a protein that plays a crucial role in the function of muscle cells and protects them from damage as muscles contract and relaxes. These mutations in the dystrophin gene lead to a lack of dystrophin protein in muscles. Without enough dystrophin, muscles gradually grow weaker until they can’t move at all, and eventually breathing and heart function are lost.
The condition is universally fatal. Death usually occurs before the age of 30 generally due to respiratory or cardiac failure.
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