Development of New Diabetes Treatment Enhanced by Partnerships
Wynnewood, PA, April 16, 2010 --(PR.com)-- CureDM, LLC, a biopharmaceutical company with collaborative ties to the Lankenau Institute for Medical Research (LIMR), announced that they have signed an agreement with Sanofi-Aventis for the exclusive worldwide license of Pancreate™, a novel islet neogenesis agent for the treatment of type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
In a collaborative research partnership, LIMR Associate Professor, Lisa-Laury Kleintop, Ph.D., help provide valuable information to CureDM regarding how Pancreate works. The results of this and other work was published in the December 2008 issue of Endocrine Practice, the leading peer-reviewed journal for practicing endocrinologists in the US and 65 countries worldwide.
Preclinical studies of Pancreate were shown to stimulate the growth of new insulin producing islets in the pancreas. This results in the restoration of normal metabolic function and glucose control, hence having the potential to reverse type 1 and type 2 diabetes. CureDM hopes to initiate phase I clinical studies later this year.
This new partnership with Sanofi-Aventis gives the company worldwide rights to manufacture, develop, and market CureDM’s Pancreate for the treatment of diabetes in both humans and animals. Under the terms of the agreement, CureDM will receive an upfront cash payment and success based development, regulatory, and sales milestones totaling $335 million. Additionally, they will be eligible to receive increasing royalties on worldwide product sales.
“CureDM’s success was made possible in part by the collaborative and cooperative environment at LIMR. All of us at CureDM are grateful for the opportunity to have access to both research and clinical resources provided by the Institute and are indebted to them for all the efforts made on our behalf,” stated H. Joseph Reiser PhD., President and Chief Executive Officer of CureDM.
CureDM’s founding physicians, Drs. Claresa Levetan and Rita El-Hajj are both Clinical Assistant Professors at LIMR.
About Lankenau Institute for Medical Research
Founded in 1927, the Lankenau Institute for Medical Research (LIMR) is an independent, nonprofit biomedical research center located in suburban Philadelphia on the campus of the Lankenau Hospital. Part of Main Line Health, LIMR is one of the few freestanding, hospital-associated medical research centers in the nation. The faculty and staff at the Institute are dedicated to advancing an understanding of the causes of cancer, heart disease and diabetes. They use this information to help improve diagnosis and treatment of these diseases as well as find ways to prevent them. They are also committed to extending the boundaries of human health and well-being through technology transfer and the training of the next generation of scientists and physicians. For more information, please visit www.limr.org.
About Pancreate™ and CureDM
Pancreate™ is a short bioactive peptide sequence of a naturally occurring human protein that stimulates the formation of functional insulin producing neo-islets from pancreatic progenitor cells. In both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, a fundamental problem is too few insulin-producing islet structures to keep up with insulin demand. In addition, islet structures provide the necessary metabolic control of insulin release that makes the pancreas so uniquely able to keep a consistent glucose level in the blood. Therein, restoring whole islets is paramount to reversing the erratic blood glucose fluctuations associated with diabetes, making Pancreate™ a fundamentally relevant and much needed new approach to the treatment of diabetes.
CureDM is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of new therapies that prevent, ameliorate, or reverse diseases of metabolism. CureDM was co-founded by a molecular biologist and two clinical endocrinologists who experienced the unmet medical need in diabetes patients on a daily basis, which provided motivation for the discovery of Pancreate™. For more information about CureDM, visit www.curedm.com.
About Sanofi-Aventis
Sanofi-aventis, a leading global pharmaceutical company, discovers, develops and distributes therapeutic solutions to improve the lives of everyone. For more information, visit: www.sanofi-aventis.com.
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In a collaborative research partnership, LIMR Associate Professor, Lisa-Laury Kleintop, Ph.D., help provide valuable information to CureDM regarding how Pancreate works. The results of this and other work was published in the December 2008 issue of Endocrine Practice, the leading peer-reviewed journal for practicing endocrinologists in the US and 65 countries worldwide.
Preclinical studies of Pancreate were shown to stimulate the growth of new insulin producing islets in the pancreas. This results in the restoration of normal metabolic function and glucose control, hence having the potential to reverse type 1 and type 2 diabetes. CureDM hopes to initiate phase I clinical studies later this year.
This new partnership with Sanofi-Aventis gives the company worldwide rights to manufacture, develop, and market CureDM’s Pancreate for the treatment of diabetes in both humans and animals. Under the terms of the agreement, CureDM will receive an upfront cash payment and success based development, regulatory, and sales milestones totaling $335 million. Additionally, they will be eligible to receive increasing royalties on worldwide product sales.
“CureDM’s success was made possible in part by the collaborative and cooperative environment at LIMR. All of us at CureDM are grateful for the opportunity to have access to both research and clinical resources provided by the Institute and are indebted to them for all the efforts made on our behalf,” stated H. Joseph Reiser PhD., President and Chief Executive Officer of CureDM.
CureDM’s founding physicians, Drs. Claresa Levetan and Rita El-Hajj are both Clinical Assistant Professors at LIMR.
About Lankenau Institute for Medical Research
Founded in 1927, the Lankenau Institute for Medical Research (LIMR) is an independent, nonprofit biomedical research center located in suburban Philadelphia on the campus of the Lankenau Hospital. Part of Main Line Health, LIMR is one of the few freestanding, hospital-associated medical research centers in the nation. The faculty and staff at the Institute are dedicated to advancing an understanding of the causes of cancer, heart disease and diabetes. They use this information to help improve diagnosis and treatment of these diseases as well as find ways to prevent them. They are also committed to extending the boundaries of human health and well-being through technology transfer and the training of the next generation of scientists and physicians. For more information, please visit www.limr.org.
About Pancreate™ and CureDM
Pancreate™ is a short bioactive peptide sequence of a naturally occurring human protein that stimulates the formation of functional insulin producing neo-islets from pancreatic progenitor cells. In both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, a fundamental problem is too few insulin-producing islet structures to keep up with insulin demand. In addition, islet structures provide the necessary metabolic control of insulin release that makes the pancreas so uniquely able to keep a consistent glucose level in the blood. Therein, restoring whole islets is paramount to reversing the erratic blood glucose fluctuations associated with diabetes, making Pancreate™ a fundamentally relevant and much needed new approach to the treatment of diabetes.
CureDM is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of new therapies that prevent, ameliorate, or reverse diseases of metabolism. CureDM was co-founded by a molecular biologist and two clinical endocrinologists who experienced the unmet medical need in diabetes patients on a daily basis, which provided motivation for the discovery of Pancreate™. For more information about CureDM, visit www.curedm.com.
About Sanofi-Aventis
Sanofi-aventis, a leading global pharmaceutical company, discovers, develops and distributes therapeutic solutions to improve the lives of everyone. For more information, visit: www.sanofi-aventis.com.
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Contact
Lankenau Institute for Medical Research
Tava Shanchuk
484-476-3429
www.limr.org
Erin DeStefano
484-476-8144
destefanoer@mlhs.org
Tava Shanchuk
484-476-3429
www.limr.org
Erin DeStefano
484-476-8144
destefanoer@mlhs.org
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