Myogenica Inc., a University of Minnesota startup company, has obtained IND approval from the FDA for Myopaxon, an induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived muscle stem cell product to regenerate skeletal muscle. A planned study will evaluate intramuscular injections of Myopaxon in non-ambulatory adult patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Artelo Biosciences Inc.’s IND application for ART-26.12, for the treatment of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, has been granted clearance by the FDA allowing the company to initiate a first-in-human phase I study. Results are expected in the first half of next year.

Epigenetic desilence of the paternal allele of the gene that causes Angelman syndrome (AS) could be used to treat this disease for which there are currently no approved therapies.

The big advantage of cell culture to model diseases is its throughput. “You can play the disease over and over again in the dish,” Clive Svendsen told the audience at the International Society of Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) Annual Meeting held in Hamburg last week. That high throughput, however, is not particularly useful if the cell lines themselves do not accurately model the disease. Cancer cell lines are used in many cell culture experiments far beyond cancer for their ability to grow. But they are “highly abnormal,” Bill Skarnes told the audience at an innovation showcase, as well as quite unstable. “I don’t think the [HEK-293] cell line is the same in your lab as it is in the lab next door,” Skarnes said.

Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences evaluated the highly potent and selective inhibitor of the second bromodomain (BD2) of the bromodomain and extra-terminal (BET) family of proteins, ABBV-744, with the aim of assessing its preclinical efficacy and exploring the pathways by which the compound regulates microglia-mediated neuroinflammation.