Roche SMA drug shines in study as costly new therapies advance


A drug being co-developed by Roche to treat spinal muscular atrophy helped improve development scores in babies with the genetic disease, a study released on Monday showed, as the race heats up for therapies destined to be among the drug industry's most expensive. PTC Therapeutics, which struck a licensing deal with Roche in 2011 for its SMA program, said more than 90 percent of babies with severe Type 1 SMA given the RG7916 drug achieved a greater than four-point increase in a test to measure their neuromuscular progress six months after treatment began.



from Biotech News