Sanofi-Aventis signs drug with potential to reverse diabetes

pharmafile | April 9, 2010 | News story | Research and Development |  Sanofi, diabetes 

Sanofi-Aventis has signed a deal with a US biotech firm to develop a new treatment which could restore patients’ ability to produce insulin.

CureDM has developed a compound named Human proIslet Peptide (HIP) or Pancreate – to help diabetes patients generate new islet cells, which will then produce insulin naturally.

The new approach to diabetes is hugely promising, but the compound is yet to enter clinical development.

Phase I trials are due to start at the end of this year, and Sanofi-Aventis has acquired development and marketing rights to the drug in a deal worth up to $335 million.

Dr. Marc Cluzel, executive vice-president of R&D, Sanofi-Aventis said:  “Once fully developed, Pancreate has the potential to become the first regenerative treatment of type I and type II diabetes and to address the challenges that the growing diabetes epidemic poses on patients and healthcare systems.”

A novel approach

Pancreate is a 14- amino acid human peptide – Human proIslet Peptide (HIP) – that consists of the bioactive region in the human REG3a gene that is responsible for regenerating pancreatic islet cells, a process known as ‘islet neogenesis’.

In a study published in Endocrine Practice Journal in 2008, HIP was shown to stimulate new islet formation, tripling the number of cells in diabetic animal models compared to placebo, effectively reversing the disease in the animals.

CureDM’s direct approach to solving the problem of diabetes at its root cause is rivalled only by trials of stem cell technology.

Teams of researchers around the world are investigating the use of stem cell transplants to help restore the function of islet cells in the pancreas, with one US clinical trial helping 20 out of 23 patients being able to stop taking insulin injections.