Nara Bio licenses MyoMouse

Nara Biosciences, a US biotechnology firm developing therapies for muscle wasting diseases and diseases of aging, has completed an agreement with Boston University to license the MyoMouse discovery platform, developed in the laboratory of Kenneth Walsh. The exclusive license includes all commercial rights to novel therapeutic factors discovered using the MyoMouse.

As described in the current issue of the journal Cell Metabolism, the MyoMouse is a mouse which has been genetically engineered to inducibly express the Akt1 gene. The result is an animal with increased type II skeletal muscle fibers. MyoMouse exhibits decreased insulin resistance, blood glucose, and body fat as well as improvements in other metabolic parameters without an increase in physical activity or a loss of appetite. The beneficial effects seen in the MyoMouse are mediated through the production and secretion of a variety of signaling proteins made by type II muscle that act upon other tissues such as fat and liver. These new proteins, referred to as "myokines" from the Greek words "muscle" and "motion," may represent new therapies that mimic the benefits of weight training for the treatment of obesity and diabetes as well as muscle wasting disorders, the company explains.