Solving the Challenges of Selective Muscle Targeting
The treatment of chronic spasticity needs new approaches that address the limitations of current therapies, including low efficacy and cardiovascular and neurological side effects, that compound the patient burden.
Motric Bio is advancing a bold new approach to treating spasticity that directly targets the contractile protein in fast-twitch skeletal muscle – myosin 2. Direct myosin inhibition in skeletal muscle has been a challenging area for drug developers because of the presence of structurally similar myosins in other muscle types, including cardiac muscle in the heart.
Skeletal striated muscle tissue
Our lead product candidate, MTR-601, represents a bold scientific advance that overcomes the challenges of selective targeting of myosin-2. In developing MTR-601 we have identified a single amino acid protein (L476), where the fast-twitch skeletal myosin-2 differs from all other myosin-2 isoforms in the body. Identifying this key variation enables MTR-601 to be rationally designed with a unique mechanism of action that specifically blocks fast-twitch skeletal muscle – without affecting cardiac and smooth muscle types.
