UNIVERSITIES LAUNCH TRIAL FOR DMD TREATMENT

A clinical trial for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is testing the safety and effectiveness of a therapy that was developed over two decades by scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's School of Medicine and the University of Pittsburgh. In the trial, six boys with DMD will receive replacement genes for an essential muscle protein.

Each of the boys will receive replacement genes via injection into a bicep of one arm and a placebo in the other arm. Neither the investigators nor the participants will know which muscle got the genes. After several weeks, an analysis of the injected muscle tissue's microscopic appearance, as well as extensive testing of the health and strength of the trial participants, will reveal whether gene therapy for DMD is likely to be safe and whether it's likely to result in persistent production of the essential protein in muscle cells.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy is a genetic disease that begins in early childhood, causes progressive loss of muscle strength and bulk, and usually leads to death in the 20s from respiratory or cardiac muscle failure. DMD occurs when a gene on the X chromosome fails to make the essential muscle protein dystrophin. One of nine types of muscular dystrophy, DMD primarily affects boys. Currently, the best medical therapy can only slow the progressive muscle weakness of DMD.