Biohaven SMA therapy fast tracked

 Biohaven Ltd. (NYSE: BHVN; "Biohaven") announced today that it received Fast Track designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for taldefgrobep alfa, a novel anti-myostatin adnectin, for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Fast Track designation enables important new drugs to reach patients earlier by facilitating more frequent communications with the FDA and expeditious review of a drug which treats a serious condition and fills an unmet medical need. Biohaven previously received orphan drug designation from the FDA for taldefgrobep in the treatment of SMA.

SMA is a rare, progressively debilitating motor neuron disease in which development and growth of muscle mass are compromised, resulting in progressive weakness and muscle atrophy, reduced motor function, impaired quality of life and often death. Inhibition of myostatin, a naturally occurring protein that limits skeletal muscle growth, an important process in healthy muscular development, is a potential therapeutic target for SMA.

Taldefgrobep has the potential to be a novel therapy to be used in combination with disease modifying therapies to enhance muscle function by blocking myostatin activity. Taldefgrobep's novelty in a field of myostatin inhibitors is based on its mechanism of action. It binds to myostatin to both lower overall myostatin levels and also function as a receptor antagonist, thereby blocking myostatin signaling in skeletal muscles.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/biohavens-taldefgrobep-alfa-receives-fda-123000959.html