The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Luxturna (voretigene neparvovec-rzyl), a new gene therapy, to treat children and adult patients with an inherited form of vision loss that may result in blindness. Luxturna is the first directly administered gene therapy approved in the U.S. that targets a disease caused by mutations in a specific gene.
The FDA recently cleared an investigational new drug (IND) application for the GALGT2 gene therapy program for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) filed by Sarepta Therapeutics and Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Following the FDA clearance, Nationwide Children’s will continue to advance the program by initiating a Phase 1/2a clinical trial in individuals with DMD by the end of 2017 to assess gene expression after gene therapy with GALGT2.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a historic action today making the first gene therapy available in the United States, ushering in a new approach to the treatment of cancer and other serious and life-threatening diseases.
