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).