Fast track status for Duchenne MD drug ezutromid

UK drugmaker Summit Therapeutics (AIM: SUMM) has received fast track designation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for ezutromid in the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Ezutromid, which has already been granted orphan drug designation by the FDA and the European Medicines Agency, is a utrophin modulator and represents a potential disease modifying treatment for all patients with the fatal muscle wasting disease.

Glyn Edwards, chief executive of Summit, which progresses therapies for the Clostridium difficile infection, said: “Fast track designation underscores the importance that the FDA places on developing new treatments for life-threatening disorders, such as DMD, and aligns well with our recently outlined strategy to accelerate the development of ezutromid to market.”