Junevity Inc. has raised $10 million in seed funding to support its work creating silencing RNA (siRNA) therapeutics to address metabolic and age-related diseases, including type 2 diabetes, obesity and frailty. The seed funding will be used to enhance the company’s RESET platform and develop its first therapeutic candidates in these indications.
Adrenomedullin, a hormone first identified in an adrenal medullary tumor, disrupts the effect of insulin on the endothelium of blood vessels, leading to insulin resistance linked to obesity and type 2 diabetes. The clue to this discovery lies in a molecular pathway that could be blocked to restore insulin function.
The EMA has started a review of Novo Nordisk A/S’ GLP-1 receptor agonist, semaglutide, after the Danish regulatory agency raised the possibility it causes an increased risk of suffering from an acute eye condition. After the first report in July 2024, the Danish regulator had received, by Dec. 10, 2024, a total of 19 reports of non-arteric anterior ischemic neuropathy, a rare condition that affects the small blood vessels at the front of the optic nerve. This can lead on to sudden vision loss and visual field defects.
CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd. on Jan. 13 gained the National Medical Products Administration’s approval of Shanzeping (prusogliptin tablets; DBPR-108) as a novel oral dipeptidyl peptidase-IV (DPP-4) inhibitor to treat adult patients with type 2 diabetes.
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. has divulged incretin analogues acting as dual agonists of gastric inhibitory polypeptide (GIPR) receptor/GLP-1 or GLP-1/glucagon receptor (GCGR) or triple agonists of GIPR/GLP-1/GCGR reported to be useful for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, obesity, metabolic syndrome, neurodegeneration, fibrosis and cardiovascular disorders.
Bio-path Holdings Inc. has conducted preclinical studies of BP-1001-A, a drug product modification of prexigebersen, confirming its effectiveness in affecting insulin signaling for the potential treatment of obesity and related metabolic diseases in type 2 diabetes patients.
Released from a clinical hold by the U.S. FDA in late September, Biomea Fusion Inc.’s menin inhibitor, icovamenib, has charged ahead to produce positive top-line data from a phase II study in type 2 diabetes (T2D). The data, however, didn’t stop the stock from dropping to near its lowest level of the past 12 months.
Work at the Institute of Materia Medica of Beijing has led to the discovery and preclinical characterization of novel fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (FBPase) inhibitors as potential therapeutic candidates for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.
A U.K. study has uncovered distinctive genetic drivers of type 2 diabetes in South Asians that lead to faster development of complications, the need for earlier insulin replacement therapy and a weaker response to some widely prescribed drugs. That points to the need to refine care pathways. But in addition, the research provides a potent illustration of how the under-representation in genomics databases of people who are not of white European origin can skew results and be a source of discrimination.