New York, NY and Southfield, MI – October 23, 2007 – The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the world's largest charitable funder of type 1 diabetes research, today announced a partnership with Housey Pharmaceutical Research Laboratories (HPRL) to support the company’s studies to identify compounds to promote the regeneration of functional pancreatic beta cells as a potential treatment for type 1 diabetes.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with Housey Pharmaceutical Research Laboratories on this important program. This drug discovery research is aimed at identifying small molecule compounds to promote beta cell growth and survival based on the company’s proprietary technology," said Patricia Kilian, Ph.D., Therapeutic Program Director for Regeneration research at JDRF. “The results from this study may provide a starting point to develop beta cell regeneration therapeutics targeting key scientific pathways, accelerate the pace of drug discovery and development leading to a cure, and have a significant clinical impact on people with diabetes.”
“We are very enthusiastic about partnering with JDRF on a project of such fundamental significance in clinical medicine, especially for children,” said Gerard Housey, M.D., Ph.D., President of HPRL. We are highly confident with the approach that we are taking and are hopeful that it will lead to substantive advances in the field of diabetes treatment. Furthermore, as a result of the JDRF’s creative approach to project support as well as its real-world understanding of modern pharmaceutical industry research, we can now move this project forward more rapidly by partnering with them.”
HPRL is the latest company to work with JDRF through its innovative Industry Discovery and Development Partnership program. The IDDP enables JDRF to partner with pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device businesses that are looking to develop drugs, treatments, technologies, and other therapeutics leading to a cure, reversal, or prevention of type 1 diabetes and its complications.
Diabetes is a chronic, debilitating disease affecting every organ system. There are two major types of diabetes: type 1 and type 2. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which a person’s pancreas stops producing insulin, a hormone that enables people to get energy from food. Type 1 diabetes usually strikes in childhood, adolescence, or young adulthood, but lasts a lifetime. People with type 1 diabetes must take multiple injections of insulin daily or continuous infusion of insulin through a pump just to survive. Type 2 diabetes is a metabolic disorder in which a person’s body still produces insulin but is unable to use it effectively. Type 2 is usually diagnosed in adulthood and does not always require insulin injections. Taking insulin does not cure any type of diabetes nor prevent the possibility of its eventual and devastating effects: kidney failure, blindness, nerve damage, amputation, heart attack, and stroke.
About JDRF
JDRF was founded in 1970 by the parents of children with type 1 diabetes -- a disease that strikes children, adolescents, and adults suddenly, makes them insulin dependent for life, and carries the constant threat of devastating complications. Since inception, JDRF has provided more than $1.16 billion to diabetes research worldwide. More than 85 percent of JDRF's expenditures directly support research and research-related education. JDRF's mission is constant: to find a cure for type 1 diabetes and its complications through the support of research. For more information please visit www.jdrf.org
About Housey Pharmaceutical Research Laboratories
HPRL is a private corporation engaged in pharmaceutical discovery research, pharmaceutical technology creation, and technology licensing. The Company’s primary efforts are directed toward inventing and developing new drug discovery and creation technologies and utilizing such technologies for the discovery and development of novel therapeutic and preventive medicines. This includes a primary focus on treating unmet medical needs by creating new medicines for human diseases which are either currently untreatable or only partially treatable with existing therapies. For more information visit www.housey.com.