PPMD to provide grant to clinical sites participating in Phase 2 study of ACE-031

Parent Project Muscular DystrophyJul 15 2010

Funds Will Help Offset Travel Costs for Participants

Patricia A. Furlong, Founding President and CEO of Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy (PPMD), the largest non-profit organization in the United States focused on finding a cure for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (Duchenne), announced that PPMD will provide a grant to clinical sites participating in Acceleron Pharma's Phase 2 clinical study of ACE-031.  These grants will help patients' families cover travel costs to and from the study site, and hotel rooms and meals during study visits.  The first two grants have been awarded to Alberta Children's Hospital and McMaster University.

Earlier this year, Cambridge, MA-based biotechnology company Acceleron launched a Phase 2 clinical study in Canada of ACE-031, a drug that promotes muscle growth. Previous studies in healthy volunteers have demonstrated that the drug increases lean mass and favorably affects markers of fat and bone mass.

The ACE-031 Phase 2 study is currently enrolling patients. Participants must be at least four years old and still walking. Additional details are available on Acceleron's website: www.acceleronpharma.com and at Clinicaltrials.gov (refer to study identifier NCT01099761).

Ms. Furlong explained the reason for PPMD's support of the ACE-031 trial with these grants. "When a family makes the decision to allow their child to participate in a clinical trial, they are making a huge decision. They are placing the health of their child in the hands of the researchers behind the project and they are allowing their child to take risks that will hopefully benefit the entire Duchenne community. We feel strongly in the work that Acceleron is doing and we wanted to help the study sites help the participating families, so that financial stresses are not added to the laundry list of things they have to worry about. The researchers behind these clinical trials are not the only pioneers in Duchenne – support must be given to the young people who participate."  

Duchenne, the most common form of childhood muscular dystrophy, is a progressive and fatal muscle disorder affecting boys and young men that causes the loss of muscle function, wheelchair dependency and a decline in respiratory and cardiac function.