Roche halts muscle-disease drug development after trial setback, continues obesity study

March 20 (Reuters) - Roche ROPC.S has stopped developing its experimental drug for two rare muscle diseases after it failed to show meaningful benefits, the Swiss drugmaker said in community letters.

Here are some details:

• In the letters, dated March 19, the company said it would no longer pursue the drug, emugrobart, for spinal muscular atrophy, or SMA, and facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, known as FSHD.

• Both the conditions are rare genetic diseases that cause progressive muscle weakness and can severely limit a person's ability to walk and carry out daily tasks.

• Emugrobart is designed to block myostatin, a protein that naturally limits muscle growth.

• Roche said the drug showed a favorable safety profile and reduced mature myostatin levels, but this did not translate into meaningful gains in muscle growth or function across study participants.

• The results were not strong or consistent enough to move into late-stage trials, the company said.

• In SMA, emugrobart was tested in combination with risdiplam and compared against risdiplam alone, while in FSHD it was tested against a placebo.

• The mid-stage trial development of emugrobart for obesity, however, will continue as planned, Roche said.