The use of α-glucosidase inhibitors reduces postprandial glucose levels and increases insulin sensitivity, and is thus ideal for combination with insulin therapy.
Beam Therapeutics Inc. has offered a progress update on its genetic disease franchise. BEAM-302, the company’s priority genetic disease program, is a potential treatment for α1-antitrypsin deficiency (AATD).
Announcing two licensing deals with Swiss pharma giant Novartis AG, Shanghai-based Argo Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd. said on Jan. 7 that it stands to gain up to $4.165 billion for two of its cardiovascular assets combined. Marking the “first significant overseas out-licensing transaction in the RNAi field from a Chinese biotech company,” the deal includes an up-front payment of $185 million from Novartis to Argo.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s inter partes review mechanism has drawn uneven reviews in the past decade or so and Dexcom Inc. has serious misgivings about an attempt by Abbott Diabetes Care Inc. to use the process to invalidate Dexcom patents for continuous glucose monitors.
Fractyl Health Inc. has nominated RJVA-001 as the first clinical type 2 diabetes candidate from its Rejuva gene therapy platform, which is designed to deliver locally administered genetic medicines to the pancreas.
Researchers from Guandong Pharmaceutical University reported on the synthesis and preclinical characterization of a series of novel long-acting peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) pan-agonists targeting PPARα, PPARδ, and PPARγ with lipid-regulating effects. PPARs are involved in lipid and lipoprotein metabolism, thus targeting the PPARs system is a promising strategy for the management of metabolic syndrome.
Diabetic retinopathy is the main diabetes complication affecting the eyes, and it leads to irreversible vision loss; oxidative stress and impairment of the retinal Muller cells are among the pathogenic mechanisms. Chinese researchers presented data on adiporon, an agonist of the adiponectin receptor protein 1 (ADPOR1) and ADIPOR2 that plays a crucial role in the metabolism of lipids and glucose, in preclinical mouse models of diabetes induced by streptozotocin.
Shares of Corcept Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:CORT) fell 26% Jan. 2 on news that a U.S. court determined that Teva Pharmaceuticals Ltd. does not infringe on patents related to use of cortisol receptor blocker Korlym (mifepristone) in Cushing’s syndrome, opening the possibility of Teva’s generic version to enter the market.
Biocells (Beijing) Biotech Co. Ltd. has patented isoquinolinone derivatives acting aquaporin-4 (AQP4) inhibitors and thus reported to be useful for the treatment of hypervolemia (fluid overload) and cerebral ischemia.