Sarepta Therapeutics Announces Plans to Submit New Drug Application to FDA for Eteplirsen for the Treatment of …

CAMBRIDGE, MA--(Marketwired - Jul 24, 2013) - Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: SRPT), a developer of innovative RNA-based therapeutics, today announced it plans to submit a New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the first half of 2014 for the approval of eteplirsen for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).Eteplirsen is Sarepta's lead exon-skipping compound in development for the treatment of patients with DMD who have a genotype amenable to skipping of exon 51.

The decision to submit an NDA for eteplirsen in 2014 is based on productive interactions with the FDA in a meeting that occurred this week.That meeting was a follow-up to the FDA's review of two recently submitted summary documents that included data on dystrophin and clinical outcomes from the existing eteplirsen studies.The FDA stated in pre-meeting comments that the Agency is "open to considering an NDA based on these data for filing."The Agency, however, requested additional information related to the methodology and verification of dystrophin quantification.Sarepta believes the requests from the Agency can be addressed and incorporated into an NDA submission in the first half of 2014.

"We are encouraged by the feedback from the FDA and believe that data from our ongoing clinical study merits review by the Agency and will be sufficient for an NDA filing," said Chris Garabedian, president and chief executive officer of Sarepta Therapeutics. "We plan to work closely with the FDA to prepare an NDA submission in the first half of 2014 as we continue to prepare for our confirmatory study and our manufacturing scale up."

The Agency would not commit to declaring dystrophin an acceptable surrogate endpoint under the CFR 314 Subpart H Accelerated Approval pathway prior to an NDA filing and commented that a decision by the Agency to file "the NDA would not indicate that we have accepted dystrophin expression as a biomarker reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit. A filing would only indicate that the question merits review, and that we deem the data to be reviewable."

Sarepta anticipates submitting an NDA for eteplirsen in the first half of 2014; however, the exact timing of the submission will be dependent on further discussions and agreement with the FDA on the information needed for an acceptable filing.Sarepta also intends to have an End-of-Phase II meeting with the agency later this quarter to discuss the requirements for the Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls (CMC) section of the NDA.

Conference Call Information

Sarepta will hold a conference call to discuss this update today at 8:00 a.m. EDT (5:00 a.m. PDT). The conference call may be accessed by dialing 800.446.2782 for domestic callers and 847.413.3235 for international callers. The passcode for the call is 35357086. Please specify to the operator that you would like to join the "Sarepta Therapeutics Regulatory Update Call." The conference call will be webcast live under the events section of Sarepta's website at http://www.sarepta.com and will be archived there following the call for 90 days. Please connect to Sarepta's website several minutes prior to the start of the broadcast to ensure adequate time for any software download that may be necessary. An audio replay will be available through August 14, 2013 by calling 888.843.7419 or 630.652.3042 and entering access code 35357086.

About Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

DMD is an X-linked rare degenerative neuromuscular disorder causing severe progressive muscle loss and premature death. One of the most common fatal genetic disorders, DMD affects approximately one in every 3,500 boys worldwide. A devastating and incurable muscle-wasting disease, DMD is associated with specific errors in the gene that codes for dystrophin, a protein that plays a key structural role in muscle fiber function. Progressive muscle weakness in the lower limbs spreads to the arms, neck and other areas. Eventually, increasing difficulty in breathing due to respiratory muscle dysfunction requires ventilation support, and cardiac dysfunction can lead to heart failure. The condition is universally fatal, and patients usually succumb to the disease in their twenties.

About Eteplirsen

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Sarepta Therapeutics Announces Plans to Submit New Drug Application to FDA for Eteplirsen for the Treatment of ...