Experimental drug boosts muscle and bone mass of mice in space

By Michael Le Page

The experimental drug was tested in mice

imageBROKER / Alamy

An experimental drug has dramatically increased muscle and bone mass in mice that spent a month on the International Space Station. The hope is that a human version could help people who spend long periods in bed due to illnesses, as well as astronauts.

“It could help any condition, any prolonged illness, in which someone is bedridden,” says Emily Germain-Lee at the University of Connecticut.

Maintaining muscle and bone is costly, so they lose mass when we don’t use them, whether due to spending time in bed or in microgravity. …