A weekly injection under the skin just won approval in China for a rare muscle-weakening disease

For people living with generalized myasthenia gravis, the body's own immune system jams the signals between nerves and muscles: arms tire quickly, eyelids droop, and in severe cases even breathing can become difficult. China has now approved a new treatment, batoclimab — a weekly injection under the skin instead of a hospital infusion. It works by blocking the recycling system that keeps antibodies circulating in the blood, so the faulty antibodies causing the jam are broken down faster. In a late-stage trial at 27 hospitals across China, 58.2% of patients on the treatment held a meaningful improvement in everyday activities for at least four weeks, compared with 31.3% on a placebo, and the benefit showed up as early as the second week. One in four patients on the drug reached a state of minimal symptoms at some point, versus fewer than one in twenty on placebo. Harbour BioMed, the drug's maker, says it is the first therapy of its kind to complete its entire development in China, from early studies to approval. The most common side effect was mild-to-moderate swelling.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: tech innovation