Diasome Pharmaceuticals Inc., a biotechnology startup based in Cleveland, has raised at least $20 million to continue clinical trials for its drug that helps treat diabetes.
An investor group stands ready to match that amount if the clinical trials — some of which will be done at Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals in Cleveland — show promising results, said Kent Manson, Diasome's vice president of strategy and commercial development.
And if the drug succeeds in the trials, Diasome Pharmaceuticals likely would license its technology to or be acquired by a "top global pharmaceutical company," Manson said. And if that happens, the company's diabetes drug could be available by 2026.
It's unusual for such a late-stage drug-development company to be based in Cleveland, Manson said. But W. Blair Geho, Diasome's co-founder, chief scientific officer and the developer of its technology, lives in Northeast Ohio, he said.
Diasome's drug is added to fast-acting or "mealtime" insulin to deliver the insulin to liver cells, enabling the liver to regulate blood sugar levels and preventing hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, Manson said.
The liver acts like a sponge that stores and releases blood sugar, called glucose, to power the body's organs, muscles and other systems, he said.
But in diabetic patients, the liver cannot absorb insulin produced by the pancreas, so it can't do its job of regulating blood sugar, said Manson, who went to work for Diasome Pharmaceuticals in March 2020 to help commercialize its product.
Treating hypoglycemia in diabetic patients costs the U.S. health care system about $15.5 billion a year and accounts for 10% of the deaths of patients with Type 1 diabetes, Manson said.
