GlaxoSmithKline’s $720 million acquisition of Sirtris Pharmaceuticals looks a little less rosy this spring, following the May 4 suspension of a mid-stage trial for SRT501, a reformulated version of the red wine component resveratrol.

GSK halted the safety and tolerability study after learning that some of the multiple myloma sufferers enrolled in the trial developed nephropathy, a disorder that can lead to kidney failure. Whether there's any link between taking SRT501 and developing nephropathy remains to be confirmed, Sirtris' CEO George Vlasuk told the Wall Street Journal.

 

The international study was begun in March 2009 with sites in Denmark and the United Kingdom and had enrolled 24 of 61 anticipated participants. GSK estimated it would complete the study by December 2010.

 

An earlier Sirtris study of SRT501 found it lowered glucose and improved insulin sensitivity in patients with Type 2 diabetes. But some researchers question whether synthetic resveratrol can actually mimic the real thing, thus activating SIRT1, a protein that can potentially slow aging and the metabolic processes and the growth and proliferation of cells, according to recent research.

 

A recent article in the New Scientist rounded up tests of several resveratrol-like drugs, including three Sirtris compounds. None of the studies bore out the claimed benefits of resveratrol.

 

GSK acquired Sirtris, which is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2008.