Human insulin produced in Bacteria is already a miracle for Diabetes…but sometimes, it’s not as efficient as it could be. The French Biotech Adocia is developing a super-insulin and showed successful efficiency data in a early-stage human trials.
Adocia is a Lyon-based Biotech we have discussed before. Even if its logo is a bit strange (looks like a zombie no?) it has been extremely successful in the last few years in chronic disease. For example, Adocia signed a massive €464M deal with Eli Lilly on one of its diabetes programs. Its technology, BioChaperone, enhances the properties of human proteins, and are typically focused on insulin. The company is now worth a bit over €500M on the Paris Stock Market and today counts around 100 employees.
The company tested Eli Lilly’s Humalog75/25 alone and compared to the BioChaperone Combo (mix of two different insulin types) in 28 patients with type 1 diabetes. The goal was to observe the effect on post-meal glycemic control. The study met its objectives and demonstrated superiority in reduce post-meal blood glucose over the standard treatment of Eli Lilly.
In short, it means is that the new mix gives faster efficacy and reduces residual insulin afterwards limiting risks of hypoglycaemia. Simon Bruce, Adocia’s Chief Medical Officer explained:
“These results suggest that BioChaperone Combo could become a simple and more efficient alternative treatment option for people using premixed insulin.”
This successful study brings Adocia even closer from a Phase III, the last step before market approval, even if it needs additional Phase 1b results before (expected for early 2016).
What is also interesting, is that this BioChaperone Combo technology is not yet licensed to anybody, instead being fully owned by the company. The management, where the CEO, CSO and Director of Business Development are all from the same family – Soula, which owns 22.3% of the company.
In an interview with the French magazine LesEchos, it was determined that Adocia has around €70M in the bank, and now has time to search a partner on this phase III. But this doesn’t mean they are in any hurry, as their CEO Gerrard Soula told them: “There is no hurry to sign a partnership“.
Could it also do it alone? Probably not. A Phase III in diabetes often carries high prices because of the large size of the trials, and a partner will probably be needed.
With such good news demonstrating the power of the technology and by looking at the growing market of diabetes, Adocia seems on a good track to find a partner and have a bright short-term future.