alkaline phosphatase

As advertised, the drug is lowering levels of an enzyme called alkaline phosphatase in their blood, and that should be a sign of healing for their autoimmune disease, called primary biliary cholangitis.

Although the trial required for accelerated approval was too short to show long-term improvement, the drug lowered alkaline phosphatase levels in many patients who could tolerate taking it.

The drug is designed to replace alkaline phosphatase and to improve bone health.

Strensiq replaces a deficient enzyme, alkaline phosphatase, and allows the bones to mineralize.

To test the molecule’s cancer-killing prowess, the researchers added it to cultures of bone cancer cells as well as to normal cartilage cells, which have only about 5% of the alkaline phosphatase activity observed in the cancerous ones.