diabetes, Life Sciences, deals

The Greater Boston Diabetes Cluster

Ryan McBride 2/9/09

(Page 2 of 3)

consists of an insulin-carrying device that adheres to the skin under a patient’s shirt; patients control insulin delivery with a handheld device.

MicroCHIPS
Bedford, MA

MicroCHIPS is working on what could be a breakthrough in managing diabetes, a tiny implant that can monitor blood sugar continuously and alert patients when levels fall outside of set limits. The glucose sensor uses reservoir-array technology developed at MIT by CEO John Santini and company co-founders and MIT professors Michael Cima and Bob Langer.

DRUGS

CombinatoRx
Cambridge, MA

CombinatoRx (NASDAQ:CRXX) has several drugs in its pipeline based on its platform that combines different drug molecules to form new treatments for different ailments. Indeed, the company’s drug for Type 2 diabetes, now in mid-stage clinical trials, is a combination of an anti-cholesterol drug and a painkilling molecule.

Elixir Pharmaceuticals
Cambridge, MA

Elixir is in the late stages of developing a combination drug for Type 2 diabetes. The startup’s lead diabetes drug, which is a combination of metformin and mitiglinide, is intended to provide both reduce blood sugar levels and provide boosts in insulin production after meals. We wrote more about the latest clinical trial of the drug, which Elixir plans to market under the name Metgluna, late last year.

Escoublac
Cambridge, MA

It’s early days for Escoublac, a startup housed in big biotech Biogen Idec’s incubator near its headquarters in Cambridge, but its research could lead to new drugs for diabetes. Escoublac has licensed technology based of the discovery of …Next Page »

Ryan McBride is Xconomy's correspondent. You can reach him at rmcbride@xconomy.com, or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Ryan_McBride.