Case Western Reserve University has granted an 18-month, exclusive option to Cleveland, OH, start-up Thermalin Diabetes, Inc., for a portfolio of insulin analogs. The company must reach certain milestones to exercise its option to obtain an exclusive license on therapies designed to help patients with diabetes. The potential to improve the treatment of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes results from the work of Michael Weiss, PhD, who chairs the biochemistry department at Case Western Reserve’s School of Medicine. His insulin analogs are faster-acting with fewer side effects, stable without refrigeration, and long-acting with lower potential cancer risks than conventional treatment, according to a university release. The insulin analogs will offer attractive alternatives for patients and may revolutionize the use of insulin pumps, according to Joseph Jankowski, Case Western Reserve’s associate vice president for technology management in the university’s TTO. “This is one of the coolest technologies that we’ve seen because of the potential to serve mankind,” Jankowski says. Thermalin Diabetes has closed more than $275,000 in seed financing from individual investors and received a $254,000 Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer Grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to support the development of one of the insulin analogs through large animal testing.
Source: PhysOrg.com