Program Overview | Research Strategies | Products Under Development
Two of the most serious and widespread forms of metabolic disorders are Type 2 diabetes and Obesity, both of which can cause serious and even fatal complications. These diseases continue to present a serious and growing problem to the medical community despite considerable headway being made in understanding them. There is significant unmet need for new therapies that offer improved efficacy in these areas.
Type 2 diabetes is characterized by an inability of the body to regulate and maintain blood sugar levels. An estimated 16 million Americans have type 2 diabetes - more than 10 times the number estimated to have type 1 diabetes (1.4 million). A significant majority of type 2 diabetics (80 % by recent estimates) are also obese.
Obesity is a more complex disease involving a significant imbalance between the physical mechanisms that regulate the intake and expenditure of energy. Approximately 250 million people worldwide are obese, over 55 million of whom reside in the United States.
Scientists at Discovery Research have been studying the underlying imbalances in the mechanisms that lead to these key metabolic disorders. We investigate the pathways and molecular signaling processes that contribute to obesity and diabetes in order to develop therapies that offer benefits for patients.
Research programs under Metabolic Disorders program are focused towards development of therapeutics for management of Insulin resistance associated disorders, dyslipidemia, obesity, and other related diseases in which insulin resistance may be an underlying patho-physiological mechanism.
Our long-standing programs to discover and develop new treatments for metabolic disease have been progressing well. Since 2001, they have started yielding results, leading to alliances with leading pharmaceutical companies - Novo Nordisk and Novartis.
This has been an area of particular strength for Discovery Research since the earliest days of the company, with many outstanding achievements. Different projects currently in progress are:
PPAR Agonists
Peroxisome proliferate-activated receptors (PPARs) are members of the nuclear hormone receptor family of transcription factors. We have synthesized and evaluated a series of PPAR agonists that exhibit significantly improved potency and safety profile when compared to the existing insulin sensitizers.
Our lead compounds in this area are DRF-10945 and DRF-2593
AMPK Modulators
Adenosine Mono Phosphate Kinase (AMPK) is a key enzyme in Metabolic Pathway. It has been recently reported that most of the beneficial effects of exercise and anti diabetic drug Metformin is mediated through AMP Kinase. We are actively pursuing specific modulators of AMPK that exhibit remarkable insulin sensitization, predominantly in the liver and peripheral Insulin sensitive tissues. This will help in the management of elevated levels of glucose in the blood and control of blood lipids and body weight.
Our drug candidate in this area is DRL-16536
|
