Antibody-based Drug may be solution to Diabetes

CSL, an MNC specializing in development and manufacture of pharmaceuticals, vaccines and other health products, has developed a new drug candidate that can prevent and reverse the progression of type 2 diabetes in animal models of the disease. The candidate blocks a protein (known as Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor B) from signalling and this prevents fat from accumulating in muscles and in the heart. As a result, cells within these tissues are once again able to respond to insulin and blood glucose is restored to normal levels.

The research, which has been published in Nature, is a joint effort by an international team led by Professor Ulf Eriksson (Karolinska Institute, Sweden) and consisting of scientists from CSL’s research laboratories in Melbourne, University of Melbourne and Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. To learn more about their findings, please go through the following links:

New antibody-based drug to cure diabetes (BioSpectrum)

Breakthrough for new diabetes treatment (Karolinska Institutet)

Targeting VEGF-B as a novel treatment for insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes (Nature)

To learn about drug discoveries being made in Asia, do consider attending the Biopharma Asia Convention in Singapore during March 2013. One of the conference tracks at the convention is Drug Discovery World Asia. The track will also involve seminars and talks on integrating the latest drug discovery technologies to gain competitive edge and fast-tracking research to commercialisation in the region.