Shares of Sarepta (SRPT) are surging after receiving expanded approval from the Food and Drug Administration for its muscular dystrophy drug, Elevidys.

Yahoo Finance's Anjalee Khemlani reports more on the approval and what it means for patients seeking treatment.

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Morning Brief.

This post was written by Melanie Riehl

Video Transcript

We're seeing some big moves in biotech today.

Sarepta shares surging after receiving expanded US approval from the FDA for its muscular dystrophy drug.

Yahoo Finance's Angelique Kani has all the details on this one.

Hey!

And that's right, Brad.

Uh, S, uh, this is one of its four commercial products and getting that expanded approval from the FDA.

Really good news.

Obviously, you can see that in the stock.

The, uh, Duchenne muscular dystrophy drug elev is, um was approved last June and it was approved for, uh with a limited label.

That means that it could be used only with those who could already walk and, uh, were was sort of limited on who could be used in the younger population.

But that's where they saw the most benefit.

And so the FDA coming out today saying that it is approved for those four and older and for those who can walk as well as those who are wheelchair bound, is a huge move for the company.

Lots of upside there, analysts are saying and important to note that this drug already since the approval brought in about $334 million for the company it already brought in 134 million in the first quarter alone.

And that's about 40% of the company's revenues in that first quarter is a bit of a controversial drug.

There are still some FDA experts who think that it has not proven its benefit in this population because it doesn't slow down the progression of the disease.

But what it does do is allow mobility.

And that's the key by which one top official allowed this to be approved.

So that's where the controversy is, according to that.

But we do see this as good news for obviously.