Earlier this year Wyeth, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world discontinued a drug designed to neutralize myostatin. It is called MYO-029. The drug is based on people who suffer from their lack of myostatin. The illness is called muscular dystrophy or simply, double muscle.

These people who suffer from such conditions have more muscles which means increased muscle mass, along with metabolism and extremely low levels of body fats, can translate to impressive super-feats, including the marked increases in speed, agility and power. That’s what we all want as athletes right

Yes indeed this is one of the most promising ways of increasing strength is by blocking a protein called myostatin. Such blocking will inhibit the slowing down of muscle growth by myostatin. Belgian blue cows are a perfect example who suffers from “double muscle”. The Belgian blue cows lack the myostatin gene, and these cows seen above looks more like bulls on steroids

Example of myostatin well known cases, both documented and reported are Wendy the Whippet dog (Breed of dog, specifically a member of the sighthound family) and Liam Hoekstra, the mini 2 year old superman who has ripped abdominal muscles and and almost no body fat.

This new clinical drug reminds me of HGH or Human Growth Hormone. HGH has been at the center of the athletics doping scandal in recent times but there is little evidence it actually works if the studies done recently are proved to be correct. Stanford researchers pooled placebo-controlled clinical trials of HGH involving 300 patients, they found no benefit for muscle strength (Research Link)

Another placebo-controlled HGH study conducted at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, Australia, found that athletes’ performance improved whether or not they were taking real HGH because of the psychological impact of thinking they were taking strength-boosting meds. (Research Link)

Although the Wyeth clinical trial on myostatin failed but plenty of people still believe the drug holds so much promise as it has been compared to a super-steroid for athletes. But currently there is little evidence that myostatin blocking will actually enhance one’s performance

Although unproven however, there was some athletes, eager to get their hands on such myostatin inhibitor drugs, turned to the internet, where fake “myostatin blockers” are being sold