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Section: News |
deutsche Version  Print-Version  |
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Cooperation in diabetes research
Roche and universities join forces | |
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The pharmaceutical company Roche and ‘SystemsX’, the Swiss Systems Biology initiative, are to collaborate over the next three years in diabetes research. The two partners yesterday presented a corresponding agreement to the public. The goal of this cooperation is to develop new medications and diagnostic instruments for the treatment of diabetes. Peter Rüegg Scientists from Roche and the Competence Center for Systems Physiology & Metabolic Diseases (CC-SPMD) are to combine forces in a project on type 2 diabetes. More than 15 researchers from Roche and CC-SPMD will be involved, including members of ETH Zurich and Zurich University. Roche will finance the enterprise over the next three years with CHF 6.3 million. Ernst Hafen, ETH President and Chairman of SystemsX, praised the fact that this most promising cooperation between the two partners was so quickly realized. New medicines to treat diabetes The aim of this cooperative project is to better understand the systems biology of beta cells and to apply this knowledge to the development of medicines for type 2 diabetes. Beta 2 cells generate insulin and reside in the so-called islets of Lagerhans in the pancreas. The hormone insulin is responsible for controlling the blood sugar level. The researchers would also like to learn more about the deployment of diagnostic biomarkers, which may be used to indicate beta cell failure.
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The new systems-oriented research approach will facilitate new discoveries in the area of beta cell regulation disturbances and their effect on the progress of type 2 diabetes, explains René Imhof, Director of Pharmaceutical Research at Roche. In the longer term the researchers also expect to glean a new understanding of metabolic diseases, which may depart from the present focus on the physiological factors responsible for the course of illness. Type 2 diabetes, also known as age-related diabetes, is one of the most prevalent metabolic diseases in the developed world. Health experts are issuing warnings of an epidemic; today 120 to 140 million people worldwide already suffer from diabetes. The catalysts for this illness are often obesity and bad nutrition. If the current trend continues, the number of sufferers may double in the next 25 years. |
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