Santhera reports strong animal data on two cachexia drugs

Santhera Pharmaceuticals, a Swiss specialty drugmaker focused on neuromuscular diseases, has reported promising preclinical data on a new generation of melanocortin-4 receptor antagonists for the potential treatment of cancer cachexia.

The most advanced candidates significantly increase food intake in healthy animals and prevent cancer-induced body weight loss in disease-relevant models.

Santhera's two novel, but chemically-unrelated MC4 receptor antagonists were both found to significantly increase appetite in healthy mice. In studies of mice carrying a C26 adenocarcinoma repeated oral administration significantly inhibited the development of cachexia - it reduced tumor-induced weight loss - and showed beneficial effects on body weight, lean mass and fat mass. Both compounds are orally-available.