TORONTO, Canada — Satellos Bioscience Inc.(TSXV: MSCL) (OTCQB: MSCLF), a public biotech company developing new small molecule therapeutic approaches to improve the treatment of muscle diseases and disorders, announced today positive preliminary data showing SAT-3247 can improve skeletal muscle function in a mouse model of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD).
Frank Gleeson, Cofounder and CEO of Satellos, said, “These data in FSHD, in combination with our preclinical Duchenne studies, collectively demonstrate the impact of SAT-3247 on improving muscle regeneration in degenerative muscle diseases. We look forward to presenting these data at the MDA Clinical and Scientific Conference 2024 and advancing SAT-3247 into clinical trials for Duchenne muscular dystrophy mid-year.”
Neil Camarta, Co-Founder and CEO of the FSHD Canada Foundation, said “I’m very pleased. It’s early days, but these results provide hope for FSHD patients. I’m looking forward to working with Satellos to accelerate the development of this promising drug candidate, because time is muscle!”
FSHD is the third most common muscular dystrophy behind Duchenne (& Beckers) and myotonic dystrophy. FSHD is an adult onset muscular dystrophy that results in the progressive destruction of muscle tissue, owed to the erroneous expression of a gene product called DUX4. Most treatments in development for FSHD are focused on trying to block the expression of DUX4.
In research conducted under a grant from the FSHD Canada Foundation, Satellos tested whether treating with SAT-3247 could counter the progressive destruction of muscle tissue seen in FSHD. Satellos demonstrated that treatment with SAT-3247 successfully improved the phenotype of FSHD mice, which was observed as a significant impact on improving skeletal muscle function.
Satellos’s SAT-3247 is a small molecule designed to inhibit AAK1, a protein kinase member of the Notch pathway. The Company believes AAK1 inhibition, independent of dystrophin, has the capacity to regulate polarity to restore asymmetric muscle stem cell division, generate muscle progenitor cells, and enable muscle regeneration.
About Satellos Bioscience Inc.
Satellos is a publicly traded biotechnology company dedicated to developing life-improving medicines to treat degenerative muscle diseases. Satellos has incorporated breakthrough research in muscle stem cell polarity into a proprietary discovery platform, called MyoReGenXTM, to identify degenerative muscle diseases where deficits in this process affect muscle regeneration and are amenable to therapeutic intervention. With this platform, Satellos is building a pipeline of novel therapeutics to correct muscle stem cell polarity and promote the body’s innate muscle repair and regeneration process. The Company’s lead program is an oral, small molecule drug candidate in development as a potential disease-modifying treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Satellos is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario.
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