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A POTENTIAL treatment for the fatal genetic disease Duchenne muscular dystrophy is to be tested by an Oxfordshire biotech company.

Summit, based at Milton Park, near Abingdon, says its drug has been shown to reduce muscle fatigue during exercise, when combined with steroid treatment, which is currently the only frontline therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).

The data were presented at the New Directions in Muscle Biology and Diseases conference in New Orleans, USA, and Summit plans to begin Phase I clinical trials on volunteer patients early next year.

Commenting on the results, Professor Kate Bushby, a leading clinician and researcher in neuromuscular diseases at Newcastle University, said: "These are very encouraging results, which, if they can be replicated in patients, will provide real optimism that an effective long-term treatment for DMD can be developed."

The company's chief scientific officer, Richard Storer, said: "The results give us great confidence that we will soon be able to progress this novel candidate into patients.

"If it is successful in the clinic, this will be a first in class drug offering considerable hope to all DMD patients."

It will be several years before any treatment could be released on the market.

4:48pm Tuesday 29th April 2008

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