Novartis Resurrects Failed Muscle Wasting Drug In New Obesity Trial

Bimagrumab failed in a pivotal late stage clinical trial last year for an orphan muscle wasting disorder. Novartis now wants to assess its potential in obesity, an area not exactly renowned for its pharmaceutical successes.

Novartis AG plans to conduct a Phase II trial of the antibody drug candidate bimagrumab in obese patients with type 2 diabetes. The activin receptor type II antagonist was developed by the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research in collaboration with MorphoSys AG, whose HuCAL library was used to identify the antibody. (Also see "Bimagrumab 3rd Novartis drug to win FDA 'breakthrough' designation " - Scrip, 21 August, 2013.)

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