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• Dansk

• 2008

  28 August 2008: Announcement no. 2, 2008: Zealand Pharma today announced that Dr. David H...

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• Product Pipeline

  Zealand's Pipeline comprises 1 compound in phase III, 2 compounds in phase II, 3 compounds ...

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Type 2 Diabetes

Insulin is a naturally occurring, or endogenous, peptide that is produced in the pancreas and is necessary for the body to be able to use blood sugar effectively.  In patients with Type 2 diabetes, often referred to as adult onset diabetes, cells become less sensitive to insulin.  Moreover, in late stages of the disease, the pancreas loses the ability to produce sufficient insulin.  Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes and is caused by both genetic and environmental factors, such as obesity.  As a result, the blood sugar is not sufficiently controlled.  If Type 2 diabetes is not successfully treated, the patient risks developing severe complications such as stroke, heart attacks, heart failure, kidney failure, blindness and disorders in peripheral nerves.

Current treatment and unmet need
There is a well-established step-by-step method for treatment of Type 2 diabetes.  At the initial stages of the disease, patients enter into a program which includes a combination of diet, weight loss and exercise.  As the disease progresses, patients receive oral drugs in either monotherapy or in combination aimed at re-establishing the efficacy of endogenous insulin.  Injectible therapy is typically used only once oral treatments have failed, restricting its patient population to poorly controlled diabetics.  As the disease progresses and other treatments fail, 25-30% of all individuals must access insulin therapy, typically in combination with oral drugs.

The key failing of all current Type 2 diabetes therapies is that, in the long term, they are unable to normalize blood sugar levels leading to serious late stage diabetic complications.  Further, the long term use of insulin and many oral Type 2 diabetes drugs leads to serious adverse effects.  For example, certain therapeutics causes weight gain, which is especially problematic in obese Type 2 diabetic patients and can lead to a worsening of the condition.  Further, the use of insulin may cause an excessive lowering of the target level of blood sugar thereby leading to hypoglycemia (insulin shock).  Multiple episodes of low blood sugar levels may lead to further complications, such as nausea, fainting and cognitive disturbances.  There is a need for new, safe and patient-friendly drug therapies that can control blood sugar more efficiently.

 

Home   Legal Disclaimer   Updated: 29.10.2008