BALTIMORE– MyMD Pharmaceuticals, Inc.® (Nasdaq: MYMD) (“MyMD” or “the Company”), a clinical stage pharmaceutical company committed to developing novel therapies for age-related diseases, autoimmune and inflammatory conditions, announced today the publication of data in the Journal of Gerontology: Biological Sciences (JGBS) from a pre-clinical study of MYMD-1® demonstrating four-fold greater improvements than rapamycin in delaying aging and extending the life of mice who began treatment at the human equivalent of 60 years of age. The study was led by principal study investigator Patrizio P. Caturegli, MD, MPH, a professor of pathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
“We are very excited that this important early data with our lead product MYMD-1 has been published in a prestigious medical journal,” said Chris Chapman, MD, President, Director, and CMO of MyMD Pharmaceuticals. “These results further validate the potential of MYMD-1 in delaying aging. Our ongoing Phase 2 study of MYMD-1 in sarcopenia/frailty, a result of a pathological aging process, is going well. Since TNF-alpha is a key player in the aging process, we also believe MYMD-1 has real potential to address autoimmune and inflammatory conditions by modulating inflammation, even when begun at an advanced age.”
MYMD-1, an oral selective inhibitor of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), that drives chronic inflammation, is being studied to slow the aging process, prevent sarcopenia and frailty, and extend healthy lifespan. A Phase 2 multi-center double-blind, placebo controlled, randomized study (NCT05283486) to investigate the efficacy, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of MYMD-1 in the treatment of chronic inflammation associated with sarcopenia/frailty is currently ongoing. The company’s scientific advisory board met recently and agreed to move to the next higher dose in the study.
Aging is closely linked to multi-morbidities, frailty, and death due to conditions such as neoplastic, cardiovascular, neurodegenerative, metabolic, or autoimmune diseases.i Similarly, frailty, or a decline in physical function leading to greater risk of hospitalization, disability, and death, increases with age independent of underlying conditions or demographical characteristics.ii
The study compared MYMD-1, an oral inhibitor of TNF-α, to rapamycin, the best characterized drug endowed with anti-aging properties. In vivo, a longitudinal cohort of C57BL/6 mice, was randomized to receive either MYMD-1, high-dose rapamycin, or low-dose rapamycin plus metformin. Each of these three treatment arms of 18 mice (10 females and 8 males) was followed for 13 months or until death. Lifespan was significantly longer in the MYMD-1 group compared to rapamycin (P=0.019 versus high-dose and P=0.01 versus low-dose) in a Cox survival model that accounted for sex and serum levels of IL-6, TNF-α, and IL-17A (see figure above). MyMD-1 also improved several health span characteristics in the study, resulting in milder body weight loss, maintenance of greater muscle strength, and amelioration of progression to frailty.
Additionally, using a panel of 12 human primary cell systems (BioMAP Diversity PLUSTM) where a total of 148 biomarkers were measured, MYMD-1 possessed anti-proliferative, anti-inflammatory, and anti-fibrotic properties. Many were shared with rapamycin, but MYMD-1 was more active in the inhibition of pro-inflammatory cytokines and pro-fibrotic biomarkers.
