Astellas Drops Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Gene Therapies and Other Studies

Astellas Pharma said it will end three gene therapy programs for the treatment of patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) based on disappointing preclinical data, along with several other programs.

The DMD programs include the gene therapies AT702, AT751 and AT753. Other terminated programs include development of the DNA vaccine ASP2390 for patients with house dust mite-induced allergic rhinitis and the glucocorticoid-induced tumor necrosis factor receptor-related (GITR) agonistic antibody cancer drug ASP1951, both of which were in phase 1.

Astellas also recently reported unsuccessful phase 3 results for its investigational nonhormonal menopause treatment fezolinetant.