Taking heart with HDAC

HDAC inhibitors are clearly a hot area in the cancer space, as companies with clinical compounds have been acquisition candidates or active on the partnering front. Myogen Inc. and Novartis AG are taking HDAC inhibitors into a new arena, cardiovascular disease, following last week's expanded partnership.

Under the original deal, Myogen (MYOG) and Novartis (NVS; SWX:NOVN) unit Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research Inc. partnered to discover and develop therapeutics for cardiovascular disease (see BioCentury, Oct. 20, 2003).The expanded deal will include MYOG's HDAC inhibitor program for cardiac hypertrophy, or an enlarged heart characterized by excess muscle cell growth(see B4). ...