Sarepta Therapeutics lays off 493 workers amid FDA probe, stock drop, and concerns over its gene therapy treatment, Elevidys.

As mothers of children with this disease, we have wept helplessly in recent months as friends — fellow members of a club we never asked to join — said goodbye to their sons, the babies they once held in their arms, whose dreams they held in their hearts until Duchenne robbed them of working muscles or a healthy future.

On an investor call Friday, analysts grilled the company over its apparent lack of transparency on the matter.

The restructuring enacted by Sarepta Therapeutics is expected to save up to $400 million in annual costs. Read why I'm downgrading SRPT stock from Hold to Sell.

Sarepta Therapeutics said it will eliminate 36% of its workforce—approximately 500 jobs—in a restructuring that follows the deaths of two Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patients following treatment with the marketed gene therapy Elevidys® (delandistrogene moxeparvovec-rokl).

The FDA will request Sarepta Therapeutics stop all shipments of Elevidys, its gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, following two deaths tied to the product.

The regulator had asked Sarepta Therapeutics to halt all shipments of its therapy, Ele­vidys, after three patients died from liver failure after taking it or a similar treatment.

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