Interim results from a phase 1 clinical trial of RG2833 in people with Friedreich’s ataxia (FA) show that the experimental drug is well-tolerated, and that it appears to increase the activity of the gene for the frataxin protein.

The Discretionary Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children (DACHDNC) today voted to add Pompe disease (acid maltase deficiency) to a list of diseases that it recommends states screen for in newborns.

A large-scale, multinational phase 3 trial of the experimental drug ataluren has opened its first trial site, in Cincinnati, Ohio.

A phase 2 clinical trial to test multiple doses of the experimental drug ISIS-SMNRx in infants with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) has opened at four trial sites in the United States and Canada. Enrollment is expected to begin soon.

The Myotubular Myopathy Event Study, a telephone-based survey, will gather information about MTM-associated events, such as emergency room visits, hospitalizations, medication reactions, and complications from medical procedures, as well as improved or declined motor and respiratory function.

Biopharmaceutical companies Acceleron Pharma and Shire announced April 21, 2011, that MDA-supported clinical trials of ACE-031 for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) have been halted.