Developing Drugs for Reversing Hyperglycemia and Insulin Resistance

Summary

• Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) is a major chronic disease that causes high blood sugar, as well asserious comorbidities such as kidney failure, stroke, amputations, hypertension, and coronary artery disease if left untreated
• Despite the availability of treatments, T2D is a persistent medical problem with increasing prevalence due to rising rates of obesity
• Dr. Machaca and his team have recently discovered a drug targeting a membrane receptor implicated in diabetes which can reverse hyperglycemia and insulin resistance
• Dr. Machaca and his team are exploring this drug as a novel therapy for T2D

Technical Overview

• In T2D, response to insulin in key target tissues to insulin is significantly decreased, resulting in poor blood glucose homeostasis
• Dr. Machaca and his team have recently discovered a drug targeting a membrane receptor which corrects insulin resistance
• Oraladministration of this drug can reverse hyperglycemia and insulin resistance in a diet-induced obesity mouse model
• Dr. Machaca’s team has significant expertise in defining and characterizing the signaling cascades related to the pathway
• Dr. Machaca’s lab is seeking partners to assist in hit identification for development of a therapeutic targeting this pathway
• Partners with access to large library of compounds and/or medicinal chemistry expertise would be an ideal collaborator for this project

Market Opportunity

• Around 37 M people in the US have diabetes, of which 90-95% have T2D
• Globally, there are 420 M patients with diabetes, and 1.5 M deaths annually are directly attributable to diabetes
• Despite the development of several drugs and strategies for management of T2D, normal glycemic control is achieved clinically in only ~50% of diabetic patients
• Therefore, there is a need for novel therapeutic approaches in the treatment of T2D
• Dr. Machaca’s team has uncovered a novel pathway and potential treatment for T2D

Partnering Opportunity

Weill Cornell Medicine is seeking an industrial partner with expertise in hit identification or a large library of compounds for screening to help identify potential therapeutics for this target

Figure 1: Illustration of hyperglycemia or high blood glucose, which is a hallmark of diabetes.