Myos, a biotherapeutics and bionutrition company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of products that improve muscle health and performance, has entered into an R&D agreement with Cloud Pharmaceuticals.

The R&D program will focus on product candidates related to the inhibition of targets in the myostatin regulatory pathway as well as inflammatory mediators associated with sarcopenia and cachexia. Myos will have proprietary rights to the design and structure of any small molecules developed for the muscle-health treatment market.

Cloud Pharmaceuticals will initiate synthesis and design for small molecules relevant to Furin regulation and Janus Kinase 3 (JAK3) inhibition. Furin is a prototypical proprotein convertase that processes latent precursor proteins into their biologically active forms. Furin convertase plays a central role in the processing of myostatin to its biologically active form and therefore is a potentially important target for development of a therapeutic candidate. JAK3 is a tyrosine kinase, which functions in signal transduction and is thought to be a factor in complex biochemical pathways central to inflammation.

Candidates created in this research relationship will be the company's first small molecules under consideration for further development as a treatment for age-related loss of muscle mass or sarcopenia in addition to cachexia.

Myos hopes to report on the initial target testing with Furin convertase by the end of 2015. Meanwhile, Myos will continue to assess and identify additional small molecule candidates for further design and evaluation within the Cloud Pharmaceuticals platform.