In July of this year, Capricor Therapeutics announced positive interim results from its phase 2 (HOPE-2) clinical trial evaluating CAP-1002, the company’s lead investigational therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), to treat boys and young men in advanced stages of the disease. In that analysis, meaningful improvements in mid-level upper limb and hand function were . . .
Charles Thornton, MD, professor of Neurology at the University of Rochester, was awarded an MDA clinical research network grant (CRNG) totaling $1,118,673 over three years to continue to lead the development of the Myotonic Dystrophy Clinical Research Network, which comprises six medical centers specializing in research and clinical care of myotonic dystrophy (DM) types 1 . . .
Matthew Wood, PhD, professor of Neuroscience at the University of Oxford and director of both the Oxford Rare Disease Center and the MDUK Oxford Neuromuscular Center, was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $210,000 over two years to optimize the delivery of genetic therapies such as oligonucleotides to tissues for treating Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). . . .
At the World Muscle Society annual meeting held earlier this month in Copenhagen, Denmark, ReveraGen announced positive results from its ongoing phase 2 clinical trial of vamorolone for treating Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) in boys. Building upon previously reported positive results, CEO Dr. Eric Hoffman presented data gathered after 18 months of treatment in the . . .
On Oct. 2, NS Pharma Inc. (a wholly-owned US subsidiary of Nippon Shinyaku Co. Ltd.) submitted a rolling New Drug Application (NDA) to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its exon-skipping therapy under development, viltolarsen (previously NS-065/NCNP-01), to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) amenable to exon 53 skipping. On Sept. 26, Nippon Shinyaku . . .
Martin Childers, PhD, DO, chief medical officer at Asklepios BioPharmaceutical Inc. in North Carolina, was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $192,500 over one year to perform pre-clinical studies using an adeno-associated virus (AAV) to deliver a gene therapy for limb-girdle muscular dystrophy type 2I (LGMD2I). Limb-girdle muscular dystrophies are a diverse group of disorders . . .
Michael Shy, PhD, professor of Neurology and Pediatrics at the University of Iowa, was awarded an MDA Clinical Research Network Grant (CRNG) totaling $423,413 over three years to further develop the Inherited Neuropathies Consortium (INC), a network of clinical investigators dedicated to developing the infrastructure necessary to evaluate therapies for patients with inherited peripheral neuropathies, . . .
Sanjay Bidichandani, MBBS, PhD, professor of Pediatrics at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, has an ongoing MDA research grant (totaling $300,000 over three years) to study the role of epigenetic silencing of the frataxin gene (FXN) in Friedreich’s ataxia (FA). (Epigenetic changes to the genome are factors that influence the activity of genes . . .
Receiving a diagnosis of a neuromuscular disease is often not easy — there can be denial, anger, grief, and a frustrating sense that maybe life is, in a way, over. For Wolfgang Pernice, PhD, however, being diagnosed with Charcot Marie Tooth disease (CMT) in his early teens didn’t bother him that much. He says his . . .
Carlos T. Moraes, PhD, professor of Neurology at the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine in Florida, has an ongoing MDA research grant (totaling $300,000 over three years) to develop gene-editing enzymes that can be used to correct genetic mutations causing mitochondrial myopathies. Mitochondrial diseases caused by mutations in the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) are most . . .
