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RALEIGH – A new film opening this weekend called “Extraordinary Measures,” starring Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser, centers around a medical treatment developed at Duke University.

The movie features a father's desperate search for a drug to treat his child's Pompe disease, which is caused by the lack of an enzyme that breaks down glycogen for energy. That breakdown can lead to anything from weakened muscles to an enlarged heart.

In the movie, the dad starts a biotech company to develop a therapy. But in real life, the only life-saving treatment was developed at Duke University Medical Center.

“Similar to a patient with diabetes who's missing insulin, in patients with Pompe disease, they are missing this enzyme called acid alpha-glucosidase. And so what's being done is providing this missing enzyme to a patient with Pompe disease to allow the body to be able to do the work it should have been able to do if it were making the enzyme on its own,” Dr. Priya Kishnani, a Duke pediatric geneticist, said.

Without the therapy, babies with the disease typically die by their first birthday. The treatment involves an IV every two weeks.

Like many diseases, early detection and treatment is the key.

“I think similar to “Lorenzo's Oil,” this movie is going to increase awareness, and that's a win-win for all of us in the field. And the biggest win, of course, is for the patients, because the greater the awareness, the more likely they are going to be diagnosed and treated early,' Kishnani said.

Duke doctors hope to add testing for Pompe disease to other required blood screenings in newborns.