Pancreatic cancer is the deadliest of cancers with just one in nine patients surviving five years after diagnosis. The low rate of survival largely results from the late stage at which the cancer is first detected, as 65% patients are not diagnosed until the disease has metastasized. Bluestar Genomics Inc. hopes it has developed an assay that can detect the cancer much sooner, allowing patients and their physicians to get ahead of the malignancy well before it spreads.
Brain insulin signaling is known to control peripheral energy metabolism and regulation of mood and cognition. Dysregulation in this signaling has been tied to brain pathological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Previous findings have reported a strong connection between type 2 diabetes (T2D) and AD, suggesting insulin resistance as a potential risk factor for AD pathology and other forms of dementia.
Researchers from Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc. have reported the discovery of indirect activators of AMPK as potential candidates for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.
Eccogene (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. has received FDA clearance to begin a phase I study of its glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist ECC-5004 for type 2 diabetes.
Hua Medicine Ltd. has received marketing approval from China's NMPA for its glucokinase activator (GKA), Huatangning (dorzagliatin tablets), for two indications: as a monotherapy to improve blood glucose control for drug-naïve type 2 diabetes patients and in combination with metformin in metformin-tolerated type 2 diabetes patients to control blood glucose level. It marks the first GKA drug to gain approval in any market, according to Hua.
Hua Medicine Ltd. has received marketing approval from China's NMPA for its glucokinase activator (GKA), Huatangning (dorzagliatin tablets), for two indications: as a monotherapy to improve blood glucose control for drug-naïve type 2 diabetes patients and in combination with metformin in metformin-tolerated type 2 diabetes patients to control blood glucose level. It marks the first GKA drug to gain approval in any market, according to Hua.
Eli Lilly & Co. has synthesized macrocyclic peptides acting as amylin receptor agonists, glucose- and/or triglyceride-lowering agents reported to be useful for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, obesity, dyslipidemia and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis.
Researchers from the University of Coimbra presented data from a study that aimed to assess the role of the ghrelin/neuropeptide Y (NPY) system in adipose tissue in subjects with obesity and metabolic syndrome.
The individual and population-level health impact of type 2 diabetes is well documented, a fact which recently drove the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) to ask whether screening among asymptomatic individuals aged younger than 18 years would be worth the effort. The answer is that the task force simply does not know, simply because the agency’s literature search turned up no studies that prospectively evaluated the benefits of screening in this population, signaling a missed opportunity for drug and device makers to intervene in this massively costly disease.