Poxel’s Imeglimin Targets Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Type 2 Diabetes

Poxel SA, a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to novel treatments for type 2 diabetes, recently announced the presentation of preclinical data on Imeglimin, the company’s first-in-class lead anti-diabetic product, at the 6th World Congress on Targeting Mitochondria held in Berlin, Germany, Oct. 28–30, 2015.

Imeglimin, an oral therapeutic agent for diabetes, acts by targeting the mitochondrial dysfunction associated with the disease. The drug has an impact on the three main target organs important for the homeostasis of glucose levels in the body — the liver, pancreas and muscle.

In the oral presentation titled “Imeglimin, a New Mitochondria Targeted Agent for Type 2 Diabetes Treatment,” the company showed that Imeglimin targets two important features related to mitochondrial bioenergetics — the respiratory chain and the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP), leading to an improvement in both insulin sensitizing and insulin secretion in patients with type 2 diabetes, and ultimately inducing a significant reduction in glycemic parameters.

The company also showed that Imeglimin can increase fatty acid oxidation in the mitochondria, while preventing the overproduction of harmful reactive oxygen species (ROS), and that it can delay the opening of the mPTP, preventing cell death caused by excess glucose and oxidative stress, delaying disease progression.

“These results clearly demonstrate Imeglimin’s innovative mechanism of action and illustrate the benefits of targeting the mitochondria to treat type 2 diabetes,” noted EVP Non-Clinical Development and CSO of Poxel, Dr. Sébastien Bolze, in a press release. “Our data confirm again that Imeglimin’s profile is unique among current anti-diabetic agents.”

Poxel believes that Imeglimin represents an innovative alternative therapy for type 2 diabetes patients, and that it can offer long-term clinical benefits in terms of delaying disease progression and the occurrence of related complications in this patient population.

Growing evidence supports that type 2 diabetes is a mitochondrial disease. The distinctive mitochondria-targeting mechanism of action of Imeglimin makes it a unique and promising therapy for type 2 diabetes, a disease considered a global epidemic by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Imeglimin has successfully completed Phase 2 trials in both the United States and European Union, having now entered clinical development in Japan.