Superbaby may suggest cure for muscular dystrophy
A 7-year-old German child with a myostatin mutation that makes him super-strong led pediatric neurologist and geneticist Markus Schuelke and fellow doctors to step up efforts to design drugs that could let muscles flourish without onerous side effects, holding great promise for patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Wyeth came out with an experimental antibody drug which produced bulked-up mice in 2002, and results of a trial in adults with MD are expected as early as March. Schuelke is still in contact with the boy, who is completely healthy despite fears that his heart muscle might grow too thick. He’s still strong, but no longer abnormally so.