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DiaKine Therapeutics to Be Awarded Patent for Restoring Insulin Producing Cell Function in Diabetics

Posted on: Tuesday, 1 April 2008, 09:00 CDT

DiaKine Therapeutics, Inc. today announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office indicated its intent to grant a patent for the use of Lisofylline (LSF) to restore insulin-producing beta cell mass and function in people with diabetes. The patent application, entitled Pharmaceutical compositions and methods for restoring beta-cell mass and function, also covers the use of LSF in combination with a growth factor.

"We have clearly demonstrated in previous pre-clinical studies that our immune modulating drugs, alone or in combination with other specific small molecules or peptides, may be used as a means to prevent, treat or possibly arrest diabetes," said Dr. Jerry Nadler, DiaKine's Chief Scientific Officer and co-inventor. "The patent application should help us move our work forward as we seek to put an end to this devastating disease."

"This is the second key patent office action we have received in recent months and further strengthens our portfolio of intellectual property," said Keith Ignotz, President, and CEO of DiaKine. "These patents boost our claims to precisely limit the body's mistaken and destructive inflammatory actions that lead to diseases such as diabetes."

The patent application covers pharmaceutical compositions and methods for restoring beta-cell mass and function. The pharmaceutical compositions have a biological response modifier and a beta-cell growth factor in a mixture with a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier, adjuvant or vehicle. The invention provides for the use of compounds or agents that can block cytokine signaling or formation and thereby prevent autoimmune damage to regenerated/emerging new insulin producing cells. Without using an agent to block the autoimmune process, beta-cell differentiation and/or growth promoting agents will not be clinically effective because simultaneous regeneration of beta-cells and prevention of autoimmune reactions would not be realized.

DiaKine's therapies may improve the function of insulin-producing cells and preserve any that remain in the pancreas after initial diagnoses, thereby halting the progression of newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes. Those patients with established diabetes may be relieved from the lifelong burden that results from this disease by providing them with new insulin producing cells through either replication or regeneration and modulating the immune system with these new medications. Protecting new insulin-producing cells from a new immunological attack may reverse diabetes and prevent the resulting complications associated with this dreadful disease.

About DiaKine --

DiaKine Therapeutics, Inc. is a development-stage company commercializing novel immune modulators initially targeting the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases such as diabetes and related complications. These new drugs regulate cytokines, part of the body's immune system, which mistakenly attack tissue and cause inflammation. The Company designed its first product, IsletLife-LSF Media 1, to improve the viability and insulin producing capabilities of harvested islet cells prior to transplant. IsletLife-LSF Media thus can potentially improve the success rate of the procedure. Additional therapeutics under development by DiaKine include: adjunct therapy to islet cell transplants, halting the progression of type 1 diabetes in newly diagnosed adults, treatment and prevention of Latent Autoimmune Diabetes of Adults (LADA), treatment and prevention of insulin requiring type 2 diabetic, treatment and prevention of diabetes complications. For more information, visit www.diakine.com.

Source: Business Wire

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