PhytoMedical expands diabetes agreement, increases research team

By Elaine Rigoli

Tampa, Fla., March 21 - PhytoMedical Technologies, Inc. has extended the scope of its three-way cooperative research and development agreement with Iowa State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service to allow the company to accelerate its development of a new compound to treat type-2 diabetes.

"The decision to enter into this new agreement was based on the progress of our current research, which has been focused on synthesizing certain insulin enhancing or mimetic polyphenolic compounds that improve insulin function by a factor of 20 in laboratory tests," said Harmel S. Rayat, president and chief executive officer, in a statement.

An insulin mimetic is a substance that has cellular effects similar to insulin itself, which is why these same compounds have been shown to significantly reduce blood sugar levels, triglycerides (fatty acids in blood) and LDL (bad) cholesterol in a published study of type-2 diabetes patients, according to a company news release.

"We will be increasing the size of our research team so as to not only accelerate our existing research activities, but also to expand the scope of those activities to study the possible applicability of our compounds to Alzheimer's disease," Rayat added.

In addition to being associated with diabetes, insulin function, or the lack thereof, is now known to be linked with a number of other ailments, including Alzheimer's disease, the release said.

Since 1980, the number of Americans with Alzheimer's disease has more than doubled and now affects one in every 10 Americans over the age of 65.

Because the polyphenolic compounds synthesized for type-2 diabetes sufferers improve insulin sensitivity, it's possible that these same compounds could potentially improve or prevent Alzheimer's disease, officials said.

The expanded research team will include the expertise and facilities to study the effects of these compounds on the alleviation and prevention of Alzheimer's disease.

As a result, PhytoMedical said it has the potential of developing two new compounds - one for diabetes and the other for Alzheimer's disease.

Vancouver, B.C.-based PhytoMedical is an early stage biopharmaceutical company that develops plant-derived pharmaceutical and nutraceutical compounds targeting cachexia, obesity and diabetes.

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