What't the deal on Losartin?

You are all aware of the Losartin paper by R. Cohn and colleague and like many other drugs/supplements/nutraceuticals, we continues to discuss this within the community and ask various physicians to prescribe Losartin for our boys. And some parents are giving it to their son, with or without the blessing of the physician.

So, the botton line is that there is no evidence other than on study on the mdx mouse. And you have already heard the words, "there is a great deal of difference between the mdx mouse and the boys". And they are right. And from our side of things we ask "well, if there is potential gain with few (or no) side effects, why not?" and TIME matters. We want to EndDuchenne and as fast as possible.So, where is the happy middle? I'm not sure we will find that tonight, but I did poll a few physicians (7) for some opinions and thought you might be interested in their responses. The responses fell into 3 broad categories.

1. One physician said - the recommended dose of Losartin is 25mg/day. The Marfan trial (and probably the dose range for a dmd trial) is 150-200mg/day. This dose is very high and increases the risk for toxicity. This physician did not thin 25mg or 50mg/day would have any effect.

2. Another physician said there is no evidence and they would not recommend it. When asked about a trial, this physician suggested trials cost millions of dollars and 'why spend money on a bandaid, when more meaningful trials are in development (referring to exon skipping. utrophin upregulation (summit, catalyst compounds), etc

3. Another physician repeated the words above and worried that patients would 'jump ship' if another, potentially more useful trial was announced. This physician also discussed the fact that most trials involve a minimum of 18 mo. to develop, recruit patients, analyze the data and report.I thought you would like to know. I have some other ideas I'm exploring as well. Stay tuned.Pat