Finally, a pill that could fix the root cause of diabetes

Of the 463 million people in the world with diabetes, up to 95 percent have type 2 (T2D). In T2D, peripheral tissues – mostly muscles — are resistant to insulin, a hormone made by the pancreas to stabilize blood-sugar levels and enable the body to use and store sugar. Medications available today treat the symptoms and complications of T2D but do not solve the core problem of insulin resistance.

Zygosid-50, a drug under development in Israel, could be the first to restore near-normal cellular sensitivity to insulin, without side effects. Concenter BioPharma in Jerusalem is raising funds for clinical trials approved by the FDA based on evidence from earlier testing in animal models for T2D. In December, Concenter Biopharma cofounder and CSO Prof. Mottie (Mordechai) Chevion won first place at the 17th Annual World Congress on Insulin Resistance, Diabetes and Cardiovascular Diseases. “The World Congress attracts the top researchers and clinicians, who understand the problem and the limited solutions available — which aren’t really solutions at all,” says Concenter Biopharma cofounder and CEO Dror Chevion, Mottie’s son. “To receive the award — out of 80 submitted abstracts and six chosen for presentation — is a real vote of confidence in our science and our achievements,” Dror Chevion tells ISRAEL21c. “The people sitting in that conference will be the ones prescribing our drug to patients.”-- More...