The Resilient Patient Project

Over the past years, the University of Pennsylvania have beein investigating a FOP patient who was a healthy young man with classic FOP but who had an extreme lack of FOP bone growth and nearly normal mobility.

The results of this study were published in February 2024 in the ‘Resilient Patient Project’ publication in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research.

The paper confirmed earlier findings that the patient has decreased production of MMP-9 leading to the conclusion that the MMP-9 enzyme, an inflammatory protein, is a critical driver of the abnormal bone formation in FOP. A finding confirmed in mice models, where blocking MMP-9 prevented FOP bone formation. This discovery directly led to the advancement of andecaliximab (an MMP-9 inhibitor) being developed as a potential treatment for FOP by Āshibio.

You can read an article, interviewing Professor Fred Kaplan and Andrew Davis here: UPenn Blog