Sarepta Holds Its Breath as Feds Order Halt to Ebola Work
Summary
The Bothell, WA-based biotech company (NASDAQ: SRPT) said last month that its experimental RNA-based drug for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy showed some encouraging signs of improving walking ability for boys in a small clinical trial, which caused its shares to more than double.The contract, divvied up into four different phases, was awarded to Sarepta in July 2010 to advance its work in developing RNA-silencing drugs against the deadly and untreatable Ebola and Marburg viruses.The ‘stop-work’ order means that Sarepta, formerly known as AVI Biopharma, could lose half of that contract, or about $145 million over time, that was intended to support the Ebola program.Sarepta has about 110 employees at R&D sites in Bothell, WA, Corvallis, OR, and Cambridge, MA—and about two-thirds of the workforce are involved in the Ebola and Marburg programs on a part-time or full-time basis, Garabedian says.It is premature to speculate if staffing cuts will be required or if the lost staff hours on Ebola can be applied toward the Marburg program activities,” Garabedian says in an e-mail.
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