Oral GPR142 agonists for the treatment of Diabetes
We received a ~£140k Biomedical Catalyst feasibility study award from InnovateUK to progress hits for the GPR142 agonist programme for diabetes. Type 2 diabetes (“T2D”) affects over 420 million people worldwide, creating an enormous healthcare and socio-economic burden. The GPR142 receptor has been reported to be a potential and exciting novel target for the treatment of T2D with several advantages. Its activation results in insulin secretion but only in the presence of high blood sugar levels, avoiding the life-threatening side effect of low blood sugar associated with insulin-based therapies. GPR142-based medicines would be orally administered, avoiding compliance issues caused by injectable therapies. Prosecution of this programme has gone well with several novel lead C4XD compounds showing significant activity in a pre-clinical oral glucose tolerance test.