Jilin Huisheng Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd., a non-wholly owned subsidiary of Sihuan Pharmaceutical Holdings Group Ltd., has raised ¥500 million (US$70 million) in a series A round. Huisheng, which has developed a pipeline of programs addressing both diabetes and its complications, plans to use the new funds to speed up its clinical trials and purchase manufacturing equipment, according to Che Fengsheng, executive director and chairman of Sihuan Pharma.
The University of Bari Aldo Moro presented data from an in vivo study assessing the effects of irisin on pancreatic islets of diabetic mice (type 2 diabetes).
Investigators at Washington State University (WSU) have identified a set of eight proteins that were expressed in the serum of Ursus arctos horribilis, better known as the grizzly bear, specifically during their hibernation period. In addition to reporting new basic insights into hibernation, the study, which was published in the Sept. 21, 2022, issue of iScience, could also give clues to insulin resistance and its relationship to body fat.
A simple injection of muscle tissue could control glucose in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Genetic modification of skeletal muscle and subsequent intramuscular implantation could increase blood sugar absorption and become an effective and long-lasting treatment for this pathology. “We took mice satellite cells and we genetically altered to overexpress GLUT4,” Hagit Shoyhet, researcher at the Levenberg lab of stem-cell and tissue engineering, Technion (Israel), said at the European Association for the study of Diabetes (EASD) 58th Annual Meeting.
Pancreatic β cells are the only cells in the body that produce insulin, and are the cells whose malfunctioning is the proximate cause of diabetes. Consequently, repairing or replacing β cells is one of the major goals of diabetes research. In type I diabetes, where the immune system destroys β cells, need to be replaced outright. In type II diabetes, β cells “disappear” in another way. There is ample evidence that under conditions of chronic high blood sugar, such cells dedifferentiate, becoming less β cell-like over time.
Researchers at Northwestern University and COUR Pharmaceutical Development Company Inc. have shown that biodegradable carboxylated poly(D,L-lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles containing encapsulated Ag (tolerance-inducing microparticles [TIMPs] or COUR nanoparticles [CNPs]) are able to prevent and treat type 1 diabetes (T1D) induced by transfer of monospecific diabetogenic CD4 and CD8 transgenic T cells to NOD.scid mice.
Lanzhou University and Tencent Technology (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd. have patented glucagon receptor (GCGR) antagonists reported to be useful for the treatment of diabetes and hyperglycemia.
More than 70% of individuals with diabetes develop some form of heart disease. Nonischemic diabetic heart disease (NiDHD) is a chronic complication characterized by ventricular dilation and hypertrophy, diastolic dysfunction, and decreased or preserved systolic function, and eventually may result in heart failure.
Akston Biosciences Corp. emerged from a successful small company that was sold to a pharma major. For Todd Zion, that’s a back-to-basics move that suits him just fine. Zion co-founded Smartcells Inc. in 2003 with technology developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The company went on to develop the once-daily injectable self-regulating insulin product, Smartinsulin, and sold it to Merck & Co. in what was at the time one of the largest preclinical pharmaceutical acquisitions ever.
Preserving beta-cell mass and expansion is a key point in diabetes. Prolonged hyperglycemia may lead to glucose toxicity, which impairs insulin production and secretion, promoting a cycle with increasing glucose concentrations that promote a decline of beta-cell function and eventually their death.
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