PhytoMedical expands team researching cinnamon-derived compound to treat Type 2 diabetes

By E. Janene Geiss

Philadelphia, Jan. 10 - PhytoMedical Technologies, Inc. said Tuesday it plans to increase its team of collaborating scientists developing a new cinnamon-derived compound for Type 2 diabetes, one of the leading causes of death and illness worldwide.

"In addition to published in-vitro and animal studies, which have shown the ability of cinnamon and cinnamon extracts to improve glucose metabolism and reverse insulin resistance, we have been encouraged by the progress made thus far by our collaborating scientists," Harmel S. Rayat, president and chief executive officer of PhytoMedical, said in a company news release.

The company said it is working to synthesize certain insulin-enhancing polyphenolic compounds, which, in laboratory tests, have improved insulin function by a factor of 20. The company eventually hopes to characterize the compound's beneficial effects in cell culture systems, animals and ultimately humans.

"Based on the results and progress of our early research, we believe that we are definitely on the right track. As a result, we plan to double, as soon as possible, the number of scientists working on this important diabetes research," Rayat said in the release.

The company said it will increase the number of full-time scientists on this project to six from three in order to accelerate the development.

Through a three-way cooperative research and development agreement with the USDA's Agricultural Research Service and Iowa State University, PhytoMedical's team of scientists is working to synthesize several polyphenolic compounds, originally isolated and characterized from cinnamon bark, which increase sugar metabolism by a factor of 20 in test tube assays using fat cells.

These new compounds have been found to increase insulin sensitivity by activating key enzymes that stimulate insulin receptors, while inhibiting those enzymes that deactivate them, basically resulting in insulin being more efficiently used by the body, officials said.

Further evidence of the efficacy of these polyphenolic compounds was presented in a study published in Diabetes Care, a journal of the American Diabetes Association, on 60 people with Type 2 diabetes who ingested small amounts of cinnamon daily, officials said.

This study showed that as little as one gram of cinnamon per day - one-fourth of a teaspoon twice a day - can lower blood sugar by an average of 18% to 29%, triglycerides (fatty acids in the blood) by 23% to 30%, LDL cholesterol by 7% to 27% and total cholesterol by 12% to 26%.

Changes in HDL cholesterol were not significant. No side effects were observed, and the study found that the beneficial effects of cinnamon lasted for at least 20 days after people stopped taking it, officials said.

Vancouver, B.C.-based PhytoMedical, with its wholly owned subsidiaries, is an early stage, research-based biopharmaceutical company focused on the identification, acquisition, development and eventual commercialization of innovative plant derived pharmaceutical and nutraceutical compounds targeting cachexia, obesity and diabetes.

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