Funding leads to testing for new Metabolic Solutions Development Co. therapies

Metabolic Solutions Development Co. continues to be successful in raising the funds it needs for drug trials for the therapies it is developing to treat Type 2 diabetes.

The Kalamazoo-based company recently announced it has raised $23.5 million from Hopen Life Sciences and received a subsequent commitment from the Southwest Michigan First Life Science Fund as well.

Metabolic Solutions Development Co. is working to develop a treatment that eliminates the adverse side effects that occur with current treatments, such as edema, weight gain and increased danger of congestive heart failure. Its insulin sensitizers are being tested to see if they have positive effects on blood glucose, serum lipids and blood pressure as the company theorizes.

The new funding will support the company’s 90-day, multinational study of its drug candidate, MSDC-0160. The double-blind clinical trial, which began enrolling patients in September, will involve more than 420 patients at 30 planned sites throughout the United States and India. It will look at how successfully the drug works in specific doses.

The funds also will support drug trials on a second drug candidate, MSDC-0602, and expand research into the unique mechanism of these compounds.

Jerry Colca, president and chief scientific officer of MSDC, says if the early trials on the therapy proceed as they hope the company will be able to achieve its longterm goal of a therapeutic options that could be used early in the course of the disease and inhibits its progression.
 
Since it was founded in 2006 the Metabolic Solutions Development Co. has raised nearly $50 million for its work.

Writer: Kathy Jennings
Source: Jerry Colca, Metabolic Solutions Development Co.