A Burnsville startup is making progress vetting its promising but still unproven diabetes treatment.
Exsulin CEO Lisa Jansa says the company's Phase II clinical trial at the Mayo Clinic and Canada's McGill University is now more than 50 percent enrolled and on track to be completed by the end of the year.
"The good news is we're very close to having data," says Jansa, one of more than two dozen scheduled speakers at a
diabetes
innovation summit Wednesday at Park Nicollet's International Diabetes Center.
The company's product, a drug called ExsulinTM, aims to help the body regenerate insulin-producing cells within the pancreas. If it proves successful, it could reverse the effects of diabetes in Type 1 and Type 2 patients and reduce the use of injected insulin.
Jansa says there's reason for optimism based on previous animal and clinical studies. If the current 27-patient trial suggests the drug is safe and effective, then larger studies will follow. If those are also successful and the drug is approved by regulators, it could be for sale within five years.
Exsulin TM's progress is being tracked closely by the diabetes industry because it's the only treatment of its kind at this stage of development, Jansa said. If it makes it all the way to pharmacy shelves, the product would likely find a massive potential market. Diabetes affects 24 million Americans. In Minnesota alone, 15,000 people are diagnosed each year.
The Twin Cities could play a key role in developing treatments for those patients. The region has strong research expertise at the Mayo Clinic, University of Minnesota, and International Diabetes Center, says Jansa, as well as emerging companies like Exsulin that could help diversify the area's reputation beyond medical devices. She hopes Wednesday's event will give a glimpse of that future.
"I'm hoping it'll be the first of what we'll see as some real momentum in the region."
Source: Lisa Jansa, Exsulin Corporation
Writer:
Dan Haugen