Sarepta's shares sink 50% after muscle disorder drug fails to meet main goal

Jan 7 (Reuters) – Drugmaker Sarepta Therapeutics Inc said on Thursday its experimental gene therapy to treat a muscle-wasting disorder did not achieve statistical significance in one of the main goals of a study, sending its shares down 50%.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a rare degenerative neuromuscular disorder, which affects about one in 3,500-5,000 male births worldwide and causes severe progressive muscle loss and premature death.

The setback comes as Pfizer Inc dosed its first patient in a late-stage study testing its treatment for DMD. Some analysts have suggested that Sarepta’s gene therapy seems to have a better safety profile than Pfizer’s in early trials. Sarepta’s drug, SRP-9001, however, met one of the goals of the study, the company said.

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