by: Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy
PPMD is excited to learn that Sarepta Therapeutics has completed the submission of a rolling New Drug Application (NDA) to the FDA seeking accelerated approval for casimersen (SRP-4045). Casimersen, a phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomer (PMO), is engineered to treat patients with Duchenne who have genetic mutations that are amenable to skipping exon 45 of the Duchenne gene. This is an important next step in the progress of casimersen and we look forward to learning more about this therapy at PPMD’s Virtual Annual Conference in July.
Read the Press Release from Sarepta
Sarepta Therapeutics Completes Submission of New Drug Application Seeking Approval of Casimersen (SRP-4045) for Patients with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Amenable to Skipping Exon 45
06/26/20 8:30 AM EDT— Casimersen is designed for the treatment of exon 45 amenable patients, approximately eight percent of patients with Duchenne —
— Casimersen is the third exon-skipping medicine using the Company’s proprietary PMO RNA-based platform —
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 26, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SRPT), the leader in precision genetic medicine for rare diseases, today announced the Company has completed the submission of a rolling New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seeking accelerated approval for casimersen (SRP-4045). Casimersen, a phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomer (PMO), is engineered to treat patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) who have genetic mutations that are amenable to skipping exon 45 of the Duchenne gene.
The completion of the rolling submission includes data from the casimersen arm of the ESSENCE study (also known as study 4045-301), a global, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 3 study evaluating efficacy and safety in patients amenable to skipping exons 45 and 53. An interim analysis from ESSENCE demonstrated a statistically significant increase in dystrophin production as measured by western blot in patients who received casimersen compared to baseline and placebo. The study is ongoing, and remains blinded to collect additional efficacy and safety data. If the casimersen NDA is accepted and granted accelerated approval, the completed ESSENCE study will serve as a post-marketing confirmatory study.
“The completion of our casimersen submission is an important milestone in our journey to advance treatments for the greatest possible number of people living with Duchenne muscular dystrophy,” said Doug Ingram, president and chief executive officer, Sarepta Therapeutics. “If approved, casimersen will be our third approved therapy for sub-populations of Duchenne. Together with our other approved therapies, we have the potential to treat nearly 30% of Duchenne patients in the United States. Our proprietary PMO platform is an important focus of our pipeline, and we owe our clinical progress to the patients and families participating in our studies.”
About Casimersen
Casimersen uses Sarepta’s proprietary phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomer (PMO) chemistry and exon-skipping technology to skip exon 45 of the DMD gene. Casimersen is designed to bind to exon 45 of dystrophin pre-mRNA, resulting in exclusion, or “skipping,” of this exon during mRNA processing in patients with genetic mutations that are amenable to exon 45 skipping. Exon skipping is intended to allow for production of an internally truncated dystrophin protein.
