FDA Approves Targeted Treatment for Rare Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Mutation | FDA

FDA Approves Targeted Treatment for Rare Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Mutation | FDA





FDA approves targeted treatment for rare Duchenne muscular dystrophy mutation

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted accelerated approval to Viltepso (viltolarsen) injection for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) in patients who have a confirmed mutation of the DMD gene that is amenable to exon 53 skipping. This is the second FDA-approved targeted treatment for patients with this type of mutation. Approximately 8% of patients with DMD have a mutation that is amenable to exon 53 skipping.

As part of the accelerated approval process, the FDA is requiring the company to conduct a clinical trial to confirm the drug’s clinical benefit. The ongoing study is designed to assess whether Viltepso improves the time to stand for DMD patients with this confirmed mutation. If the trial fails to verify clinical benefit, the FDA may initiate proceedings to withdraw approval of the drug.

The most common side effects observed in DMD patients (pooled from the two studies) treated with 80 mg/kg once a week were: Upper respiratory tract infection, injection site reaction, cough and fever.

Although kidney toxicity was not observed in the Viltepso clinical studies, the clinical experience with Viltepso is limited, and kidney toxicity, including potentially fatal glomerulonephritis, has been observed after administration of some antisense oligonucleotides. Kidney function should be monitored in patients taking Viltepso.