Merck Patent Gmbh

Anne-Christine Bay-Jensen

Per Qvist

Hans Guehring

Morten A Karsdal

Christoph Hubertus Ladel

The present invention relates to pharmacogenetics, more specifically to strategies involving biomarkers associated with the clinical response to a compound before or during treatment of a cartilage disorder, such as osteoarthritis. The present invention more particularly relates to the combination of JSW measurements and level of specific proteins present in the blood, serum, synovial fluid or in the urine, which can be used in strategies such as patients' enrichment in clinical trials, patients' selection strategy before or during treatment or for adapting the treatment of a patient in the frame of treatments for cartilage disorder, such as osteoarthritis.

Markers useful in enrichment strategies for the treatment of osteoarthritis

The present invention relates to biomarkers associated with the clinical response to an FGF-18 compound before or during treatment of a cartilage disorder. It relates more particularly to specific proteins present in the blood, serum, synovial fluid or in the urine, which can be used as biomarkers for the diagnosis, pre-treatment of patients and during therapy of cartilage disorders. The invention can be used in predicting the response to an FGF-18 compound treatment, before starting the treatment or during the treatment. It could be used for selecting/identifying subjects to be treated according to specific doses and/or dosing regimens by intra-articular administration of an FGF-18 compound. The use of these biomarkers in diagnostics could result in increased benefit and reduced risk-benefit ratio in subjects.

Inflammatory biomarkers for predicting responsiveness to FGF-18 compound

The present invention relates to biomarkers associated with the clinical response to an FGF-18 compound before or during treatment of a cartilage disorder. The present invention more particularly relates to specific proteins present in the blood, serum, synovial fluid or in the urine, which can be used for the diagnosis and treatment of cartilage disorders. The invention further discloses specific proteins that are related to cartilage response to an FGF-18 compound treatment as well as diagnostic tools and kits based on their expression profile. Thus, the invention can be used in predicting the response to an FGF-18 compound treatment, before starting the treatment with FGF-18 or during the treatment. It could be used for selecting/identifying subjects to be treated by intra-articular administration of an FGF-18 compound. The use of these biomarkers in diagnostics could result in increased benefit and reduced risk in subjects.

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Copenhagen, Denmark

Anne-Christine Bay-Jensen