During Wednesday Morning trading, Sarepta Therapeutics (NASDAQ:$SRPT) rose almost 11% on elevated volume. The stock’s outstanding performance undeniably was encouraged by news of optimal results from an early-stage muscle biopsy study for its experimental Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) therapy, Golodirsen.
Duchenne is a genetic disorder that causes muscle wasting, resulting from a mutation on the X chromosome. Golodirsen targets patients with deletions of the DMD gene. If approved, the drug will complement Sarepta’s first DMD commercial product, Exondys 51.
The Next Step
Sarepta hopes to increase output of DMD exon-skipping therapies to the market by using capital from its recent successful commercial launch of Exondys 51. Currently, Exondys 51 only targets around 13% of the total DMD patient population. This underscores the sizable commercial opportunity offered by the company’s diverse platform of DMD therapies. The end goal is to eventually expand the 13% to 80%.
While current Golodirsen current biopsy results are encouraging, Sarepta is still a few years away from becoming a multi-product company. If everything goes according to plan, the therapy will be ready for accelerated regulatory filing in 2020.
Despite the wait, investors’ enthusiasm remain high. Sarepta’s shares are already trading at a stately price-to-sales ratio of 51.78.
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