US regulator puts clinical hold on Pfizer DMD trial

The US regulator has placed a clinical trial hold on research into a Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) candidate under development by New York-based pharma giant Pfizer (NYSE: PFE).

The trial stoppage comes after a patient in the trial died. In a statement, Pfizer said it "does not yet have complete information,” and is “actively working with the trial site investigator to understand what happened.”

The gene therapy, dubbed fordadistrogene movaparvovec, is being evaluated in an early-stage study enrolling a few dozen patients.