GTx Inc.’s Ostraine treatment is meeting its clinical trial goals to build lean body muscle in cancer patients, according to a company presentation today at the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting.
The 16-week trial gave 159 cancer patients at 35 sites in the U.S. and Argentina either one or three milligram doses of Ostraine, a selective androgen receptor modulator. The results show the one milligram dose gave patients 0.2 pounds of lean body muscle. The three milligram dose increased muscle mass by 2.9 and 3.3 pounds.
"Approximately half of all cancer patients suffer from the devastating effects of cancer induced muscle loss,” Adrian Dobs, an investigator in the clinical trial and professor of medicine and oncology at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said in a statement. “Increasing lean body mass may improve patients' quality of life and even their response to cancer treatment.”
GTx (Nasdaq: GTXI) and Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) are collaborating to develop Ostraine as part of a broader program for SARMs, a new class of drugs with the potential to treat musculoskeletal conditions.
