Background

Administration of Islet Amyloid Polypeptide IAPP with Insulin (as a separate injection) helps to normalize fluctuating glucose levels to a greater degree than is possible with insulin alone. Unfortunately, human IAPP is extremely amyloidogenic and prone to aggregate, preventing its direct use as an adjunct to insulin therapy. The poor solubility of IAPP drastically increases the cost of IAPP as a therapeutic and limits its effectiveness, (the difficulty of having to give a second injection after an insulin or Leptin injection is a major drawback).

Technology

Researchers at the department of Chemistry at Stony Brook University have developed variants of the endocrine hormone islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP, also known as amylin) which are much more soluble than the wild type peptide and which have been designed to allow them to be co-formulated with insulin to treat type-1 and type-2 diabetes. IAPP is deficient in type-1 diabetes and in the latter stages of type-2 diabetes. This has led to interest in the use of IAPP to treat diabetes. The researchers have also shown that these analogs do not aggregate and are not toxic. #### Stage of Development Preclinical

Advantages

Enables co-injection with known FDA approved therapeutics, i.e., insulin at physiological pH

Application

Diabetes Therapeutics