Sarepta Shares Plunge as FDA Raises Doubts About Drug
January 15 2016 - 2:20PM
Dow Jones News
Sarepta Therepeutics Inc.'s valuation was cut in half Friday
after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration released documents
suggesting regulators are questioning the efficacy of the company's
drug candidate that treats a fatal form of muscular dystrophy.
Sarepta is seeking approval to sell eteplirsen as a treatment
for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a condition that destroys muscles
and frequently kills patients by their 30s. The disease, which has
no effective treatments, affects roughly one in every 3,500 boys
world-wide.
The drug faces an FDA panel review Jan. 22, with a decision by
the agency expected by Feb. 26. The FDA had granted priority review
status for the treatment in August.
In documents released Friday ahead of the hearing next week, the
FDA emphasized evidentiary standards aren't lower for drug
candidates seeking accelerated approval.
"Although FDA is prepared to be flexible with respect to a
devastating illness with no treatment options, we cannot approve
drugs for which substantial evidence of effectiveness has not been
established," according to the documents.
Shares of Sarepta, down as much as 60% Friday, fell 56% to $14
in midday trading in New York, giving the company a market
valuation of $639 million. Through the close Thursday, the company
was valued at $1.4 billion.
Sarepta declined to comment but pointed to its addendum to the
documents, which provides updated efficacy data requested by the
FDA and "clarification of comments in the FDA briefing document
that we believe are key inaccuracies."
Also in the addendum, Sarepta urges flexibility in the FDA's
review.
"The need for innovative and flexible approaches to FDA review
across divisions increases as more rare disease therapies are being
developed, where the contextual knowledge of patients and their
diseases often evolves in parallel with clinical development," the
company said.
Sarepta cited previous cases where the "variation in the type
and quantity of evidence used by the FDA to assess the efficacy of
novel therapeutic agents underscores the agency's flexible approach
to meeting standards for drug approval."
"It is clear in the context of the review of drugs for rare
diseases FDA has the authority—and specific direction from
Congress—to exercise flexibility in considering all of the
available data."
The documents come a day after the FDA rejected BioMarin
Pharmaceutical Inc.'s new drug application for a treatment of
Duchenne because of questions about the drug's effectiveness.
BioMarin said it would work with the FDA to determine the next
steps for its treatment, called drisapersen, and that studies will
continue. The drug, which has the marketing name Kyndrisa, remains
under review in Europe.
Write to Anne Steele at Anne.Steele@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 15, 2016 14:05 ET (19:05 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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