A new steroid drug used for treating Duchenne muscular dystrophy could also be an effective therapy for inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, tests have shown.
Vamorolone showed promising early results in treating inflammation but with fewer negative side-effects than other treatments, which include muscle and bone loss that can increase the risks of falls and fractures.
The drug is a glucocorticoid, a type of steroid hormone naturally produced by the adrenal glands, or by synthetic medication manufacturers, which have anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive effects useful in the treatment of many inflammatory diseases.
Vamorolone offers anti-inflammatory benefits – but without side-effects
According to research published in Rheumatology, the academic journal, Vamorolone offers the same anti-inflammatory benefits – but without the known side-effects of a typical glucocorticoid. Vamorolone is unique metabolism-resistant steroid approved by the FDA (US Food and Drugs Administration).
These findings come from a study, funded by the Foundation to Eradicate Duchenne, which shows Vamorolone could be a promising alternative treatment for patients living with the disease, as well as other inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis. Duchenne is a severe type of muscular dystrophy predominantly affecting boys.
“If Vamorolone is effective in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, it would allow us to better control disease activity, whilst preserving muscle and bone to reduce the risks of fractures and falls”
said Dr Rowan Hardy, associate professor in steroid metabolism and signalling at the University of Birmingham.
Dr Rowan Hardy, lead author of the study, has now secured further funding with the Foundation to Eradicate Duchenne that will allow the research team to better understand the processes whereby Vamorolone is able to protect muscle and bone in patients with inflammatory disease.
Through their involvement with the Birmingham Rheumatology group under Professor Adam Croft and the NIHR (National Institute for Health and Care Research) and Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre’s Inflammatory Arthritis Theme, the team will now work with clinicians to examine the possibility for new clinical trials to examine Vamorolone in rheumatoid arthritis patients, the University of Birmingham said.
