Drug Discovery and Development

  • Home Drug Discovery and Development
  • Drug Discovery
  • Women in Pharma and Biotech
  • Oncology
  • Neurological Disease
  • Infectious Disease
  • Resources
    • Video features
    • Podcast
    • Voices
    • Webinars
  • Pharma 50
    • 2025 Pharma 50
    • 2024 Pharma 50
    • 2023 Pharma 50
    • 2022 Pharma 50
    • 2021 Pharma 50
  • Advertise
  • SUBSCRIBE

New Strategy to Lower Blood Sugar May Help in Diabetes Treatment

By Drug Discovery Trends Editor | September 4, 2015

Brian N. Finck, Ph.D. (left), and Kyle S. McCommis, Ph.D., analyze data showing it’s possible to reduce blood sugar levels in people with diabetes by lowering glucose production in the liver. (Credit: Robert Boston)Some treatments for type 2 diabetes make the body more sensitive to insulin, the hormone that lowers blood sugar. But new research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests a different strategy: slowing the production of glucose in the liver.

Working in mice, the researchers showed they could reduce glucose production in the liver and lower blood sugar levels. They did so by shutting down a liver protein involved in making glucose, an approach that may work in patients with type 2 diabetes.

The research is published online in Cell Metabolism.

“We think this strategy could lead to more effective drugs for type 2 diabetes,” said principal investigator Brian N. Finck, PhD, associate professor of medicine in the Division of Geriatrics and Nutritional Science. “A drug that shuts down glucose production has the potential to help millions of people affected by the most common form of diabetes.”

Finck worked with researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and the biopharmaceutical company Metabolic Solutions Development Co.

The company is involved in clinical trials that are evaluating the drug compound MSDC-0602 as a treatment for diabetes. The new study demonstrates that the compound works, at least in part, by inhibiting a protein that’s key to glucose production in the liver.

The research team, led by first author Kyle S. McCommis, Ph.D., a postdoctoral research scholar, cut sugar production in liver cells by inhibiting a key protein involved in transporting pyruvate, a building block of glucose, from the bloodstream into the energy factories of liver cells, called mitochondria.

Previous research had suggested interfering with pyruvate may limit glucose production in the liver, but this study is the first to demonstrate the critical role played by the pyruvate transport protein.

In addition to diabetes, the researchers also think that interfering with pyruvate transport may help patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, a condition common in people with obesity.

Funding for this research comes from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Additional funding comes from The Foundation for Barnes-Jewish Hospital and the Robert A.Welch Foundation.

Source: Washington University in St. Louis


Filed Under: Drug Discovery

 

Related Articles Read More >

EVEREST lead investigator on why Dupixent sets a new bar for treating coexisting CRSwNP and asthma
Sanders, King target DTC pharma ads but the industry worries more about threats to its $2B R&D model
Zoliflodacin wins FDA nod for treatment of gonorrhea
FDA approved ENFLONSIA for the prevention of RSV in Infants
“ddd
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND STAY CONNECTED
Get the latest news and trends happening now in the drug discovery and development industry.

MEDTECH 100 INDEX

Medtech 100 logo
Market Summary > Current Price
The MedTech 100 is a financial index calculated using the BIG100 companies covered in Medical Design and Outsourcing.
Drug Discovery and Development
  • MassDevice
  • DeviceTalks
  • Medtech100 Index
  • Medical Design Sourcing
  • Medical Design & Outsourcing
  • Medical Tubing + Extrusion
  • Subscribe to our E-Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • R&D World
  • Drug Delivery Business News
  • Pharmaceutical Processing World

Copyright © 2025 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | Advertising | About Us

Search Drug Discovery & Development

  • Home Drug Discovery and Development
  • Drug Discovery
  • Women in Pharma and Biotech
  • Oncology
  • Neurological Disease
  • Infectious Disease
  • Resources
    • Video features
    • Podcast
    • Voices
    • Webinars
  • Pharma 50
    • 2025 Pharma 50
    • 2024 Pharma 50
    • 2023 Pharma 50
    • 2022 Pharma 50
    • 2021 Pharma 50
  • Advertise
  • SUBSCRIBE