Type 2 Diabetes
Close to eight percent of the population - approximately 24 million children and adults - suffer from diabetes in the US. Type 2 diabetics develop insulin resistance leading to hyper secretion of insulin which eventually leads to pancreatic beta cell fatigue and destruction. Although the cause of diabetes is uncertain, most attribute the onset of the disease to genetics and environmental factors including poor eating habits and inactive lifestyles. Diabetes and obesity often present as co-morbidities.
Diabetes can often go undetected because the symptoms can be less severe initially. In fact, close to 25% of the cases go undiagnosed until it's too late. Symptoms include frequent urination, fatigue, irritability, and excessive thirst.
Treatments range from medications, insulin pumps, and lifestyle changes such as weight management. More recently, incretin-based therapies have been found to be very effective. Incretins are a group of gastrointestinal hormones which play a major role in glucose metabolism, improve insulin sensitivity and promote satiety and weight loss. Secretion of incretins is impaired in Type 2 Diabetes.
Current incretin-based therapies target a single incretin, GLP-1; this approach is physiologically inadequate. Our novel secretagogue targets the release of multiple incretins thereby restoring the normal physiological response to food intake. We are in pre-clinical development phase with first time in human studies targeted for 2010.