The loss of regenerative capacity in mammals over the course of evolution may be linked to certain environmental conditions rather than to a genetic limitation. Tissue stiffness around an amputated area, oxygen availability, or epigenetic regulation could determine this ability, according to two simultaneously published but independent studies published in Science, as reported by BioWorld yesterday.

The loss of regenerative capacity in mammals over the course of evolution may be linked to certain environmental conditions rather than to a genetic limitation. Tissue stiffness around an amputated area, oxygen availability, or epigenetic regulation could determine this ability, according to two simultaneously published but independent studies published in Science today.

Renovare Therapeutics Inc. has announced its formal launch from stealth mode with a focus on developing regenerative therapies for musculoskeletal diseases, including osteoarthritis.

Fortitude Biomedicines Inc. has disclosed that its lead program, FORT-202, is a first-in-class T-cell-targeting bispecific antibody for the potential treatment of axial spondyloarthritis. As a bispecific antibody, FORT-202 is designed to address multiple disease-causing pathways and is expected to significantly improve therapeutic efficacy.

Phase II data disclosed March 31 by Pepgen Inc. in myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) hobbled the stock but might have been much different if not for one outlier in the 5-mg/kg multiple ascending dose cohort of the ongoing phase II Freedom2-DM1 trial – and Wall Street is pondering what the hitch means for the Boston-based firm as well as the competitive space.

Researchers from the China Pharmaceutical University and Guangdong Pharmaceutical University (China) have unveiled the crucial role of the alternative splicing of E2A in myogenic progression and demonstrated that PTBP1, by controlling E2A alternative splicing, is a critical regulator of myogenesis.

Qyuns Therapeutics Co. Ltd. has moved closer to its first commercial product after China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) accepted its NDA for IL-17 antibody crusekitug (QX-002N) for treating ankylosing spondylitis (AS), a chronic inflammatory disease that affects the spine and sacroiliac joints.

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is a muscle wasting disease caused by aberrant expression of double homeobox protein 4 (DUX4). When DUX4 is activated in skeletal muscle, it triggers myocyte cell death after several transcriptional changes, thus genetic DUX4 silencing arises as a promising approach for treating FHSD.