Humana covering Sarepta's Exondys 51

In a policy statement, Humana Inc. (NYSE:HUM) said it will cover Duchenne muscular dystrophy treatment Exondys 51 eteplirsen from Sarepta Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:SRPT). The coverage is restricted to ambulatory patients who have a confirmed mutation of the DMD gene amenable to exon 51 skipping.

Last month, FDA granted accelerated approval to Exondys 51 to treat DMD amenable to exon 51 skipping. Sarepta priced the drug at a net annual cost of $300,000 for a 25 kg boy. Exondys 51 is a phosphorodiamidate morpholino (PMO) that induces skipping of exon 51 dystrophin mRNA (see BioCentury, Sept. 26). ...