sFGFR for achondroplasia

Achondroplasia treatments include surgical procedures to increase bone length and human growth hormone injections to stimulate growth, but neither restores normal stature. Moreover, additional interventions are required to treat the secondary consequences of short-limb dwarfism including paralysis, respiratory disorders, sleep apnea and spinal deformities.

Now, French researchers have designed a decoy version of fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3; CD333) that increased bone length and decreased achondroplasia-associated complications in mice compared with vehicle.¹ The molecule has a longer half-life than other clinical candidates focused on correcting abnormal signaling by FGFR3...