More Safety Questions for Glaxo DMD Drug; Sarepta Meets With FDA Soon

P/>BOSTON (TheStreet) -- A GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) scientist, Dr. Rohit Batta, may have been trying to soothe the nerves of Duchenne muscular dystrophy parents when he provided another update about drisapersen on Monday. I believe he raised even more concerns about the experimental drug's safety profile.

Here's the passage from Batta's email, sent to Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy, that stood out to me:

The story that appeared on the investor website highlighted the point that a small number of boys in the clinical trial programme were hospitalised due to thrombocytopenia (a decrease in the number of platelets or small cells that help blood to clot) and proteinuria (excessive protein in the urine). The boys have all recovered, following withdrawal of drisapersen and appropriate medical management. [My emphasis in bold.]

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Toxicity requiring treatment with drisapersen to be stopped is not good thing! Drug withdrawal is more serious than if treatment was merely interrupted.

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More Safety Questions for Glaxo DMD Drug; Sarepta Meets With FDA Soon