Therapies that reuse existing drugs with sizable bodies of human data tend to move more rapidly to the clinic than is the case for better, more ambitious approaches that break new ground. Greater speed in reaching the clinic means a lower cost of development, and this economic incentive is why so much of clinical development consists of drug reuse and only modestly effective therapies. In the case of sarcopenia, the age-related loss of muscle mass and strength, sizable funding is presently devoted to the development of small molecule therapies that do not produce greater gains than resistance exercise. A good deal of what we might think of as muscle aging is in fact disuse. More generally, and not just in the matter of sarcopenia, it would be good to see greater ambition, more development of first in class therapies in the research and development community - but people follow incentives, particularly when a great deal of funding is involved.
Rejuvenate Biomed, a pioneering clinical-stage platform and pipeline company committed to enhancing lifelong health through innovative therapeutics, today announces breakthrough functional outcome results from its Phase 1b trial of lead candidate RJx-01 for the treatment of sarcopenia. RJx-01 is a proprietary combination of metformin and galantamine that was identified by the company's in-house drug discovery platform and has shown to have beneficial effects on various preclinical models of sarcopenia. The recent exploratory clinical trial results, which follow earlier confirmation of safety, tolerability, and pharmacokinetics, highlight the potential of RJx-01 in addressing the unmet need for effective sarcopenia treatments.
Participants with disuse-induced sarcopenia treated with RJx-01 exhibited a promising improvement in muscle strength recovery compared to the placebo group. This beneficial effect, assessed through isometric dynamometry, underscores the ability of RJx-01 to promote muscle strength improvement. Treatment with RJx-01 led to an important improvement of leg acceleration, assessed through isokinetic dynamometry. The ability to accelerate the limb rapidly is important for functional movement in daily activities and is pivotal in mitigating fall risks. Neuromuscular fatigue was assessed by monitoring muscle parameters during a series of leg exercises. Participants receiving RJx-01 showed a reduced propensity for fatigue indicating that RJx-01 can promote physical activities such as walking.
Link: https://www.rejuvena...1-in-sarcopenia
View the full article at FightAging
