Kalamazoo Pharma Firm To Present Advance In Obesity Treatment
A Kalamazoo pharma startup has a drug candidate that may offer better treatment for diseases related to obesity, including diabetes.
Metabolic Solutions Development Co. will present research at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes conference in Stockholm, Sweden Thursday, Sept. 23.
The research indicates that the company's clinical candidate, MSDC-0160, promotes the proliferation of stem cells that create brown fat, leading to the creation of more brown fat. The research was conducted in tissue cultures and mice.
Numerous scientific studies have shown that the amount of brown adipose tissue (commonly known as "brown fat") in the human body is an important factor in determining if calories are burned as energy or stored as fat.
"Lean people have more brown fat than individuals who are obese," said Jerry Colca, president and chief scientific officer of MSDC. "The amount of brown fat in the body decreases as an individual ages, particularly in men. If a person had more brown fat, that individual would be better able to lose weight."
Added Rolf Kletzien, senior author on the study for MSDC: "The ability of our clinical candidates to activate a novel biochemical pathway may provide additional insight and understanding into the mechanism by which they lower blood glucose in human patients without causing weight gain."
Pharmaceuticals that impact a human's ability to produce brown fat may provide a new means to treat diseases related to excess body weight and cardiometabolic syndrome.
MSDC is a drug development company that is creating and testing a series of pharmaceutical candidates designed to treat type 2 diabetes more effectively without the side effects of current therapies.
An MSDC Phase 2a clinical trial of MSDC-0160 demonstrated that it improves insulin sensitivity and lowers blood glucose levels in humans without the side effects of the current market-leading diabetes medicines. The compound also demonstrated significant improvements in other important metabolic disease risk factors including blood pressure and lipids.
More at www.msdrx.com.
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