Companies Initiate Clinical Trial
FOSTER CITY, Calif. and DALLAS, April 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Entelos, Inc. and
Diabetech, LP announced today a collaboration to combine their respective
PhysioLab(R) and GlucoDYNAMIX(TM) system capabilities to improve outcomes for
people living and working with type 1 diabetes, including accelerating the
development of an artificial pancreas.
"Entelos and Diabetech have come together to combine two cutting-edge,
high-tech solutions to solve a very complex problem," stated Mikhail Gishizky,
Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer for Entelos. "Creating a technology which can
replicate a physiological process such as beta cell regulation in the pancreas
is a huge challenge. By using our combined capabilities to connect 'virtual
patients' to real patients in real-time, we expect to accelerate the
development of a patient-specific artificial pancreas."
The Virtual-Loop(TM) simplifies the collection, storage, and analysis of
patient data by connecting devices, people, and remote computer systems in
real-time wherever they might be. Using Diabetech(R)'s GlucoMON wireless
glucose meter and the GlucoDYNAMIX diabetes intervention system, clinical
trial studies are documenting the benefits of automated access to real-time
physiological data as a way to improve disease management and patient care.
This real-time feedback is particularly significant for those patients just
beginning insulin therapy. An optional patient-centric feature of this
state-of-the-art technology allows a parent or family member to remotely
monitor their loved one's health knowing first if the person with diabetes is
indeed checking their blood sugar and secondly if their blood sugar is at an
appropriate level.
The Entelos(R) Metabolism PhysioLab platform is a large-scale,
mathematical model of human metabolism describing carbohydrate, lipid, and
amino acid metabolism and includes detailed representations of gastric
emptying, intestinal nutrient absorption, and pancreatic hormone (i.e.,
insulin) release, as well as nutrient uptake, release, utilization, and
storage in muscle, adipose, liver, and other tissues. Within this platform,
Entelos researchers have created over 125 diverse 'virtual patients,'
including insulin resistant and diabetic patient types. The Metabolism
PhysioLab platform can be used to create insulin-dependent diabetic patients
to represent individuals with type 1 diabetes and to predict human response to
therapeutic intervention, including administration of both short and long-
acting insulin.
The two companies will initiate a clinical trial to investigate the
combined use of both device and platform within a Virtual-Loop system to
provide not only real-time monitoring and feedback, but predict insulin
requirements to better maintain glucose control. Research has shown that
tighter control of a patient's glucose level, immediately following diagnosis,
helps to protect the beta cells and thereby extend the body's own ability to
produce insulin. Further, short of a cure, the hope of many people with
diabetes is to automate the process of blood sugar sensing and insulin
administration through a 'closed-loop' system -- basically, an artificial
pancreas. The Entelos and Diabetech effort will focus on creating a more
intelligent wireless version of the closed-loop system. This approach will
enable immediate improvement in glucose control for type 1 diabetes patients,
as well as real-time and historical patient data to improve overall disease
management and health outcomes.
"It's a natural fit," says Eric Link, Chief Technology Officer for
Diabetech. "Bringing together the predictive capability of the PhysioLab
platform with the real-time monitoring of the GlucoMON system combines the
best of the best. While it may take years to perfect an artificial pancreas,
in the short term we expect this collaboration will help patients extend their
own beta cell function through better glucose control."
Type 1 diabetes is an auto-immune disease that affects almost two million
people in the U.S. alone. The disease arises from the auto-immune destruction
of islet beta-cells in the pancreas, leading to the failure to produce insulin
which causes a loss of glucose control. The current treatment for type 1
diabetes is the daily injection of insulin.
Entelos, Inc. (http://www.entelos.com) is a biopharmaceutical company employing
our breakthrough PhysioLab technology -- sophisticated, state-of-the-art,
mathematical models of human disease -- to: (1) establish a proprietary
product pipeline in metabolic and inflammatory diseases and (2) speed those
products to market by streamlining the pre-clinical and clinical development
phases. Additionally, Entelos offers its research capabilities through
external collaborations with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies to
enhance that partner's drug discovery and development efforts and to expedite
their therapeutics to the market. Our mission is to dramatically improve how
medicines are discovered and developed, and bring to market novel therapies to
treat diseases with significant unmet medical needs.
About Diabetech (http://www.diabetech.net) Diabetech is an award winning diabetes
technology company based in downtown Dallas, Texas. Diabetech manufactures
wireless medical devices, operates service provider infrastructure,
accelerates scientific predictive metabolic algorithm research and delivers a
fully managed real time clinical management service.
NOTE: Entelos is a registered trademark of Entelos, Inc. PhysioLab is a
trademark and service mark of Entelos, Inc. All other trademarks are the
property of their registered owners.
Contacts:
Entelos, Inc. Diabetech, LP
Barry Sudbeck Kevin McMahon
sudbeck@entelos.com kevin@diabetech.net
Tel: +1-650-572-5479 Tel: +1-877-MyGluco
SOURCE Entelos, Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.entelos.com
CONTACT:
Barry Sudbeck of Entelos, Inc.,
+1-650-572-5479, or sudbeck@entelos.com; or Kevin McMahon of
Diabetech, LP, +1-877-MyGluco, or kevin@diabetech.net
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