Xconomy: MPM-Backed Rhythm Advances Drug Programs in Diabetes and Obesity
Summary
Rhythm, which is also backed by New Enterprise Associates and Third Rock Ventures, is now completing Phase 1 human trials of its lead compound, RM-131, in patients with Type 2 diabetes.“In diabetes, that process seems to be attenuated, so many patients complain of abdominal pain and bloating,” says Elizabeth Stoner, co-founder and chief development officer of Rhythm.“It causes their glucose control to go amiss, because they’re not really emptying the stomach as expected.” According to figures Rhythm has collected, about a third of the 25.8 million people with diabetes in the U.S. suffer from gastroparesis, costing the economy $3.5 billion a year.The primary treatment, a generic drug called metoclopramide, can only be taken for a short time because of the risk that it could touch off a potentially dangerous muscle disorder.Henderson adds that because ghrelin is such an essential hormone, RM-131 could someday prove useful in a range of other diseases, including anorexia and cachexia, or wasting syndrome.