Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is a group of muscle-destroying diseases that cause progressive degeneration of skeletal muscle fibers (Tortora and Derrickson 359).This disorder is a sex-linked inheritance. It affects boys more due to them only having one X chromosome, which carries the disorder. According to Gerard Tortora and Bryan Derrickson, this is a serious condition and usually makes walking impossible by time a boy is 12 years old.

                A new treatment shows promise! According to Science Daily and the Children’s National Medical Center, A preclinical study has found that a new oral drug shows early promise for the treatment of DMD. The new drug, VBP15, will decrease inflammation that causes discomfort and strengthen the muscles without having bad side effects. The current medicine now is glucocorticoids. This medicine is rarely given due to the impact it has on your immune system.

                Dr. Hoffman believes this new drug is very promising for treatment of DMD. If this drug is passed to be used, I believe this could really cut down on the amount of male babies who have DMD. It wouldn’t be a difficult treatment. A pill would be taken orally. Edward Connor, MD, CEO, and CMO of ReveraGen Biopharma and Director of Innovation Development at Children’s National say they are optimistic that the new drug will translate well to patients, and they are moving this forward as quickly as possible, but still assuring safety.

Children’s National Medical Center. “New muscular dystrophy treatment shows promise.” ScienceDaily,

17 Sep. 2013. Web. 1 Nov. 2013.

Tortora, Gerard J., and Derrickson, Bryan. Principles of Anatomy & Phisiology .13th ed.  Hoboken:

                John  Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2011. Print.