AveXis, a part of Novartis, is working “diligently” with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to identify steps necessary to lift the hold on its gene therapy trial in types 2 and 3Â spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) patients, but the company does not know what caused the…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has placed a partial hold on a Phase 1/2 clinical trial testing AVXS-101, given by intrathecal (IT) injection to young children with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), citing concerns seen in an early animal study using this method of delivering the gene…
AveXis, the company that developed the gene therapy Zolgensma to treat spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), knew of “data manipulation issues” that led to inaccuracies in its application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration prior to the treatment’s approval, but failed to inform regulators until more than a month…
Screening newborns for genetic diseases with treatments that can prevent crippling or deadly progression, especially for rare disorders, has a ways to go in the United States. No state today tests for all 35 disorders recommended under a federal screening panel, and even in those that come close, rare…
Screening newborns for genetic diseases for which treatments exist that can prevent crippling or deadly progression, especially for rare disorders like spinal muscular atrophy, has a way to go in the United States. Only seven states require this disease to be among the dozens tested from a blood sample…
When she was born in London on Sept. 9, 2018, Tora Patgiri showed no signs of the spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) type 2 she would be officially diagnosed with some eight months later in Ohio. The baby ate well, waved her arms easily, and grasped objects at will. Until a…
[Editor’s Note: In the conclusion of this two-part interview with the Lackey family of Arizona about their daughter’s treatment with Zolgensma at 6 weeks old, we look at treatment day, advice they have to make it easier, and the family’s decision to advocate for screening newborns for SMA.] Samantha…
[Editor’s Note: This is the first of a two-part series on the Lackey family of Arizona, whose daughter Stella became the first baby west of Missouri to be treated outside of a clinical trial with Zolgensma on July 3. Here, the family talks about how their daughter came to be…
Within a lifetime, spinal muscular atrophy has leapt from a disease “nobody knew anything about” to a treatable — albeit chronic and still rare — condition. It is an “amazing” and welcome advance, say people who have lived with SMA for more than 20 years. “I’m kind of in…
How Zolgensma (onasemnogene abeparvovec-xioi), the gene therapy once known as AVXS-101, came into being is a tale fairly common to basic science: An idea that progressed from cell work in the lab to experiments with animals and, ultimately, testing as a possible treatment in patients. Where Zolgensma’s story diverges from…
