Novo Nordisk and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have announced a new research alliance to address ‘critical unmet clinical needs’ in diabetes and cardiometabolic diseases.

The collaboration aims to identify disease-modifying interventions to improve the standards of care for people living with type 2 diabetes and cardiac fibrosis.

The Novo side of the collaboration is secured through the Novo Nordisk Bio Innovation Hub, a research and development unit designed for life sciences innovation and focused on cardiometabolic, rare blood and rare endocrine disorders.

Utilising state-of-the-art genetics and genomics methods, the collaboration aims to interrogate subtypes of diabetes.

Along with the Broad’s Center for the Development of Therapeutics, using large-scale cell screens, the research will focus on the relationships between genes and pathways that could be therapeutic targets.

Type 2 diabetes affects more than 37 million people in the US.

Scarring of the heart, or cardiac fibrosis, is common in many cardiovascular diseases and can lead to heart dysfunction and failure.

The collaboration will focus on advancing three programmes across the next three years: two programmes for type 2 diabetes and one to further understand cardiac fibrosis.

The two diabetes programmes will aim to identify therapeutic targets for non-weight-mediated insulin resistance and loss of beta cell function. There are currently no safe or effective therapies for reversing disease in both patient populations.

The programme focusing on cardiac fibrosis will leverage genetics, genomics and machine learning to understand the role of cardiac fibrosis in heart disease, aiming to identify and validate potential therapeutic target genes to either inhibit or potentially reverse fibrosis.

Uli Stilz, head of Novo Nordisk’s Bio Innovation Hub, Boston, US, said: "This collaboration has the potential not only to accelerate our understanding of the diseases, but also potentially enable scientific advancements in disease-modifying interventions – a true game changer in addressing cardiometabolic diseases."

Todd Golub, director of the Broad Institute, commented: "Diabetes and cardiac fibrosis are two conditions in dire need of new therapies."

He added: "These kinds of cross-disciplinary and cross-institutional collaborations that span both academia and industry are key to making the breakthroughs that patients all over the world need."

https://www.pmlive.com/pharma_news/novo_nordisk_enters_new_research_alliance_for_type_2_diabetes_and_cardiometabolic_diseases_1499076