As
reported by Etopia News here,
the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based bio-tech company Sarepta Therapeutics announced
on October 3, 2012 “that the Ebola portion of the Company's
contract [with the Department of Defense] for the advanced development of
hemorrhagic fever virus therapeutics was terminated for the convenience of the
government due to funding constraints.”
In
light of the accelerating spread of Ebola in West Africa, Etopia News contacted the Department of Defense to
inquire about the possibility of that contract being re-instated.
According
to a Defense official who responded:
“The DoD
Joint Project Manager for Medical Countermeasure Systems (JPM-MCS) terminated
its contract with Sarepta Therapeutics (Cambridge, Massachusetts) in 2012 for
the development of the Ebola product, AVI 7537.
At that time, JPM-MCS retained the drug material. Recently JPM-MCS
agreed to a request from Sarepta to return all AVI 7537 material to the company
for potential use in the current outbreak.”
The
official also stated that “the Department of Defense (DoD) remains committed to
supporting the nation's response to the Ebola outbreak,” but made no mention of
whether that support would extend to re-instating Sarepta’s contract.
In a
recent article, Adam Feuerstein argued that “Sarepta Should Shut Up About Ebola, Focus on Job No. 1,” writing:
“Ebola is
big news today, but Sarepta has one job right now: Finishing the eteplirsen
regulatory package and delivering it to the FDA for review before the end of
the year. Nothing else is more important to Sarepta, shareholders or Duchenne
muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients and their families. Talking up ebola sounds like a distraction
from Sarepta's priority. It sounds like the company is losing focus.”
More about
Sarepta at:
Sarepta shares
plunge 60 percent after FDA questions drug trial
Sarepta
bets on DMD drug approval with a $25M plant buy
FDA
Questions around Dystrophin Quantitation by Sarepta Delay DMD Drug
Sarepta
CEO: Start of main Duchenne drug trial delayed by one to two months
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