DiaKine Therapeutics and AdPharma to Develop Diabetes Inhibiting Drugs
DiaKine Therapeutics, Inc. and AdPharma, Inc. today announced an agreement to develop a pipeline of drugs aimed at reversing diabetes. The first drug in the pipeline is Lisofylline (LSF), an immune modulating compound that has reversed type 1 diabetes in mice in combination with another agent.
DiaKine plans to take its immune modulator, LSF, to arrest diabetes and restore insulin production into a Phase 2 proof of principal clinical trial and then collaborate or license it to a large pharmaceutical company for further development and commercialization. LSF has already been formulated into a product (Isletlife-LSF Media 1) which is on the market as a product designed to improve the viability and insulin producing capabilities of harvested islet cells prior to transplant, potentially improving the success rate of the procedure.
LSF is a synthetic small molecule, with novel anti-inflammatory properties, that blocks autoimmune damage to insulin producing cells. In a study of non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice, a well-established model of type 1 diabetes, the animals were treated for 28 days with a combination of LSF/Extendin-4. The treatment completely reversed diabetes as evidenced by restored glucose homeostasis. Additionally, there was evidence of new cell growth in the area of the islet cells in the mice given the combined therapy. Additionally, LSF has shown in human islet cell studies to reduce cell death by more than 30% and improve insulin output capabilities. DiaKine is also developing LSF and other novel immune modulators drug therapies for type 1, type 2 diabetes, and related complications.
Leave a Reply