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ARTICLE | Company News

Fulcrum gets rights to GSK's shelved p38 kinase inhibitor

April 23, 2019 9:17 PM UTC

Following the failure of late-stage trials conducted by GSK in acute coronary syndrome and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Fulcrum will seek to revive the pharma's losmapimod for a rare genetic disease with an exclusive, worldwide license to develop and commercialize the p38 kinase inhibitor.

Using its computational biology platform, Fulcrum Therapeutics (Cambridge, Mass.) found that p38 kinase inhibitors also inhibited expression of DUX4, which is the gene that causes the progressive muscle wasting disorder facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD). The company plans to start a Phase IIb trial mid-year of losmapimod in the indication...