Top of the morning to you. And a fine one it is. Lots of sunshine and clear blue skies are once again enveloping the Pharmalot campus, where the official mascots are bounding about the grounds in search of creatures to annoy. As for us, we are as busy as ever hunting and gathering items of interest. We trust you have your own hectic agendas. So join us as we hoist the ever-present cup of stimulation — our choice today is roasted coconut — and attack the fast-growing to-do list. Have a grand day, everyone, and do stay in touch…
To hear Sarepta Therapeutics chief executive officer Doug Ingram tell it, the results released this week from a large trial of its gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy marked a clear medical breakthrough, STAT writes. “A massive win,” he told investors, that could lead to its approval for all patients with the fatal muscle-wasting disease regardless of age. And yet the rest of the Duchenne community was more cautious in its enthusiasm. The study — the most rigorous test to date of a technology 30 years in the making — had technically failed, as so many had before it. And now, the world doctors and families face looks different than if the results had been unambiguously positive.
Novo Nordisk forecast it will supply “significantly” more doses of Wegovy in the U.S. next year, even as it cautioned shortages of the weight-loss injection would continue in the short to medium term, Reuters says. “We don’t see a ‘hockey stick’ development where suddenly there’ll just be a significant ramp-up in sales,” said Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen, indicating that manufacturing would ramp up gradually. He did not give an end-date and declined to give details on manufacturing. Novo has struggled to keep up with soaring demand for the appetite-suppressing anti-obesity drug, and has limited the number of U.S. patients who can start treatment since May.
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