The names of the investors are: Lilly, Roche, Boehringer, the American Diabetes Research Foundation… Real institutions which did not hesitate to put 30 million dollars (27.5 million euros) on the table to allow the research conducted by the team of Patrick Collombat (team leader “Genetics of diabetes”, at the Institute of Biology Valrose, in Nice), to lead to the setting up of a clinical trial.
Internationally known for his work on type 1 diabetes, the researcher from Nice has been pursuing this objective for years: to develop a treatment capable of freeing millions of diabetics from their insulin dependence.
And he seems very close to achieving this, following very specific research, which has enabled his team to develop a very promising drug candidate. “The aim of the treatment is to regenerate beta cells capable of producing insulin, from the pool of residual cells in the patients.” If the clinical trials are conclusive, it is a safe bet that this therapy will become a first-line treatment, capable of modifying the course of the disease, for the treatment of diabetes. “We have already demonstrated in preclinical trials that this treatment results in a significant increase in functional human insulin-producing beta cells. Its efficacy in preventing and reversing diabetes in in vivo models type 1 diabetes has also been demonstrated. Finally, we have proven the safety of the approach in animal models.” All of these data thus show a potential for clinical use of this potential drug both as monotherapy and in combination with insulin injections and/or other therapies targeting pancreatic beta cells.
Steps to take
A number of additional – very costly – steps still need to be taken, which Patrick Collombat lists. “We need to produce the recombinant protein (which will promote cell regeneration, Editor’s note) en masse, prove non-toxicity on different types of animals and finally demonstrate its safety for use in humans.” Once these steps have been taken, it may be considered to test its therapeutic efficacy in type 1 diabetics.
After finalizing a financing round of 27.5 million euros, DiogenX, the biotechnology company he co-founded (1) – and the millions of patients around the world – can allow themselves to dream that clinical development is not far off.
1. In 2019, Patrick Collombat joined forces with Benjamin Charles and Jean-Pascal Tranié to create DiogenX, a biotechnology company specializing in the development of pancreatic beta cell modulators to treat diabetes.
