Sarah Howell, Chief Executive Officer of Arecor, said:"We are proud that Innovate UK has, through their thorough technical and commercial review process, chosen to invest in our research from across the very best of British science. Diabetes remains a significant and growing health problem throughout the world. AT247, the lead product from our pipeline of next generation rapid insulins is focused on transforming the lives of people living with Type 1 diabetes through its potential to enable greater glucose control. This control is critical in helping patients to avoid hyper-and hypo-glycaemia events, improve time in range and reduce overall disease complications.
"The substantial grant we are announcing today provides additional non-dilutive funding to support and accelerate AT247’s Phase II development.”
Dr Thomas Pieber, PI for the Phase II study at Medical University of Graz said: “AT247 is a very promising candidate in the pursuit for next generation insulins designed to improve postprandial glycaemic control and flexibility of insulin dosing. The Phase II development programme will build on the early clinical evidence that AT247 has highly favourable pharmacokinetic properties1 and may facilitate a fully closed loop artificial pancreas, a potentially life changing treatment option for people living with diabetes.”
AT247, a novel proprietary formulation of insulin, has been designed to accelerate insulin absorption, post injection, to achieve more effective and controlled management of blood glucose levels. The development programme, supported by the grant, will include a Phase II clinical trial to compare the glycaemic control, safety and tolerability of AT247 with Fiasp® when administered by insulin pump over an extended period. Continuous glucose monitoring will allow the assessment of time spent with blood glucose level in a healthy range, the control of which is crucial for avoiding episodes of hyper-and hypo-glycaemia and delivering positive long term health outcomes for people with Type 1 Diabetes.This Phase II clinical trial is expected to commence in H12022 and is part of an extensive development programme designed to demonstrate the benefits of AT247 as a potentially best-in-class ultra-rapid acting insulin.
Despite significant advances in treatment options, 79% of people with diabetes live with severe complications due to time spent outside of their target blood glucose range. It has been shown that blood glucose control and time in range can be improved when patients are using an automated insulin delivery system, where blood glucose is continuously measured, while an algorithm calculates insulin requirements based on real-time blood glucose which is then automatically delivered by a pump.
AT247 has the potential to be an ideal pump insulinenabling a closed loop artificial pancreas for patients with Type I diabetes to be realised.
(1) Svehlikova, E; Mursic, I; Augustin, T; Magnes, C; Gerring, D; Jezek, J; Schwarzenbacher, D; Ratzer, M; Wolf, M; Howell, S; Zakrzewski, L; Urschitz, M; Tschapeller, B; Gatschelhofer, C; Feichtner, F; Lawrence, F; Pieber, TR, 2020 Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of Three Different Formulations of Insulin Aspart: A Randomized, Double-blind, Crossover Study in Men with Type 1 Diabetes. Diabetes Care. 2021 Feb;44(2):448-455. doi: 10.2337/dc20-1017