Report precedes stock jump for biotech Sarepta

On a day when an FDA approval failed to boost Ironwood Pharmaceuticals' ($IRWD) stock price, Sarepta Therapeutics' shares rose after a TV report about a patient with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) making strides while in the company's small clinical trial.

Bothell, WA-based Sarepta's ($SRPT) shares were up 14.29% to $14.40 per share at the close of trading on Thursday.

As Reuters reports, Missouri's KFVS TV station broadcasted on Wednesday a story about 12-year-old Justin Trovillion, who appears to be benefiting from a 50 mg dose of Sarepta's eteplirsen in a mid-stage clinical trial of 12 patients.

In July Sarepta's shares more than doubled on news that its mid-stage trial of the experimental treatment showed walking-distance benefits in patients with DMD, a genetic disease that causes muscle loss and has no approved treatments. GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK), Sanofi's ($SNY) Genzyme and others have pursued new treatments for the orphan disease with mixed results across the industry.

Sarepta (formerly AVI) has been a high-flier among biotech stocks this summer, with a stock price leap of 248.7% from July 13 to Aug. 30, according to Google Finance. It's been a welcome turn of events for CEO Chris Garabedian and his RNA company, which went through a reorganization last fall. 

- see the Reuters article

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