MDA translational research director Jane Larkindale said the grant will help to support further testing of CAT-1004 to assess the compound’s ability to counter muscle-damaging inflammation and support muscle regeneration.
The company plans to determine in the new four-month study whether either or both CAT-1004 and CAT-1040 reduce inflammation in muscle tissue and improve muscle function.
Catabasis co-founder and chief scientific officer Michael Jirousek said the short-term preclinical findings in DMD models are encouraging, and they look forward to conducting the longer-term study with both CAT-1004 and CAT-1040.
In a previous MDA-supported mouse study, CAT-1004 as well as prednisolone reduced muscle inflammation without the prednisolone side effect of reduced muscle weight.
The completed phase 1 safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics study of CAT-1004 in healthy human volunteers demonstrated that the drug was safe and well-tolerated.