STAT+: Servier’s $1.55 billion muscular dystrophy drug fails first major test — SkimNews
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- Servier said Tuesday that sevasemten failed to slow Becker muscular dystrophy in a long, placebo-controlled trial, a surprise after earlier encouraging data.
- Sevasemten came to Servier in a June purchase worth $1.55 billion in cash, plus about $1 billion in potential milestone payments.
- Edgewise Therapeutics originally developed sevasemten before Servier bought the asset.
- GRAND CANYON, Servier's name for the Phase 3 trial, produced results "not aligned with certain findings observed in prior clinical studies," the company said.
- Sevasemten had previously shown promising results in a smaller, randomized study, and Becker muscular dystrophy patients currently have no approved treatments.
- Servier is conducting a comprehensive analysis of the GRAND CANYON dataset together with relevant prior clinical data to better understand and characterize the findings.
Why it matters: Servier paid $1.55 billion upfront, plus about $1 billion in milestones, for an asset that has now failed a long placebo-controlled test. Becker muscular dystrophy patients still have no approved treatment, and Servier's own statement that the Phase 3 data diverged from prior findings puts the earlier smaller study's promise under scrutiny.
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