Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. announced data through Week 120 from Study 202, a Phase IIb open-label extension study of eteplirsen in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Results through more than two years showed a continued stabilization of walking ability in eteplirsen-treated patients evaluable on the 6-minute walk test (6MWT). As previously reported, Study 202 met its primary endpoint of increased novel dystrophin as assessed by muscle biopsy at Week 48 and is now in the long-term extension phase in which patients continue to be followed for safety and clinical outcomes.

At 120 weeks, patients in the 30 mg/kg and 50 mg/kg eteplirsen cohorts who were able to perform the 6MWT (modified Intent-to-Treat or mITT population; n=6) experienced a decline of 13.9 meters, or less than 5%, from baseline in walking ability. A statistically significant treatment benefit of 64.9 meters (p <=0.006) was observed for the mITT population compared with the placebo/delayed-treatment cohort (n=4), which initiated treatment at Week 25 following 24 weeks of placebo. After experiencing a substantial decline earlier in the study, the placebo/delayed-treatment cohort also demonstrated stabilization in walking ability for more than 1.5 years, from Week 36 through 120, the period from which meaningful levels of dystrophin were likely produced, with a decline of 9.5 meters over this timeframe.

These analyses were based on the maximum 6MWT score when the test was performed on two consecutive days.