Press release
Keros Therapeutics Presents Results from a Preclinical Study of RKER-012 at the American Heart Association 2021 Scientific Sessions
LEXINGTON, Mass., Nov. 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Keros Therapeutics, Inc. (“Keros”) (Nasdaq: KROS), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on
About this update from Keros Therapeutics, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"LEXINGTON, Mass., Nov. 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Keros Therapeutics, Inc. (“Keros”) (Nasdaq: KROS), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel treatments for patients suffering from hematological and musculoskeletal disorders with high unmet medical need, today announced that it presented results from a preclinical study of a research form of KER-012 (“RKER-012”) at the American Heart Association (“AHA”) 2021 Scientific Sessions held November 13 through 15, 2021. RKER-012 reduced cardiac dysfunction, cardiac remodeling and cardiac fibrosis in a pulmonary arterial banding mouse model of right ventricle overload. KER-012, a Novel Modified ActRII Ligand Trap, Attenuated Cardiac Pathology in a Pulmonary Arterial Banding Model of Right Ventricle Overload Keros used a pulmonary arterial banding (“PAB”) model of right ventricle overload to evaluate the cardio-protective activity of RKER-012 in mice. Mice either underwent sham or PAB surgery. Following these procedures, sham mice received vehicle and PAB mice received either vehicle (“PAB-vehicle”) or 10 mg/kg of RKER-012 (“PAB-RKER-012”) twice weekly for three weeks. Relative to sham mice, PAB-vehicle and PAB-RKER-012 mice had elevated pulmonary arterial pressures on Day 1 that persisted until Day 21, indicating that the PAB surgery worked as intended. PAB-vehicle mice exhibited diminished cardiac function and had markers of cardiac remodeling. Conversely, treatment with RKER-012 in the PAB mice prevented changes in cardiac function and tissue remodeling, which provides support that RKER-012 has a cardio-protective mechanism of action that could potentially provide benefit in diseases such as pulmonary arterial hypertension (“PAH”). “In a separate preclinical study, we demonstrated that KER-012 did not increase hemoglobin or red blood cells in non-human primates, which we believe will translate to a lack of a red blood cell effect in humans, as well. These data, along with the preclinical data we presented at the AHA 2021 Scientific Sessions, support that the cardio-protective effects can be independent from red blood cell increases. Accordingly, we believe KER-012 has the potential to provide benefit in PAH without affecting red blood cells or hemoglobin,” said Jasbir S. Seehra, Ph.D., President and Chief Executiv...