Derek Lowe's commentary on drug discovery and the pharma industry. An editorially independent blog from the publishers of Science Translational Medicine. All content is Derek’s own, and he does not in any way speak for his employer.

By Derek Lowe

Posts tagged with "Diabetes and Obesity"

• Cardiovascular Disease

  From the Far Corner of the Basement

  15 April, 2016

  To go along with that recent CETP trial news, here’s another one for the “We don’t know much about human lipid handing” file. A dietary study originally done back in the 1960s and 1970s has been (almost literally) resurrected, with data pulled out of yellowing stacks of paper, old cardboard boxes, and ancient-format computer… Read More

• Business and Markets

  Inhaled Insulin Strikes (Out) Again

  10 February, 2016

  The Wall Street Journal has a good post-mortem of Sanofi’s inhaled insulin experience with Mannkind. I was puzzled by that deal when it was announced, because I’d had a long history of being puzzled by Mannkind and their product (not to mention by their investors, who are a breed apart). Well, they were, anyway – Read More

• Diabetes and Obesity

  Three Not-So-Reproducible Papers

  5 February, 2016

  You may well remember Amgen’s statement in 2012 about how many academic papers they were having trouble reproducing. Not everyone has taken it seriously, since they didn’t provide specific details, just an overall count. (On the other hand, a lot of people inside the drug industry just nodded their heads, having had similar – and… Read More

• Business and Markets

  Arguing About Zafgen’s Chances

  25 January, 2016

  It’s been a wild ride for Zafgen and those following the company, and things are nowhere near over. Back in December, it became clear that two patients had died in their clinical trial of beloranib against Prader-Willi syndrome, which was clearly very bad news. But this month, the company released the rest of the data… Read More

• Business and Markets

  Mannkind’s Last Stand

  5 January, 2016

  Back in October, I said that Mannkind (MNKD) “looks doomed”. To be honest, you could have said that about them and their inhaled-insulin drug Afrezza for many years, with a good chance of being right – I said it back in 2008, for example. And it’s not that I’m some sort of prophet. I mean… Read More

• Clinical Trials

  Big Trouble For Zafgen and Beloranib

  2 December, 2015

  Zafgen went through a very rough patch back in October when it turned out that a patient in their key Phase III trial in Prader-Willi syndrome died. P-W patients have severe health problems and shortened lifespan, but the question was naturally whether the company’s investigational drug beloranib was a factor. The seemingly slow disclosure of… Read More

• Business and Markets

  Mannkind and Afrezza: Reality Intrudes. Or Should, Anyway.

  29 October, 2015

  Inhaled insulin probably has no particular effects on the central nervous system. But there’s something about the idea of inhaled insulin that makes people lose their minds. That’s the only conclusion I can draw after years of watching this area. Pfizer led the way with a long, expensive collaboration that produced Exubera, the first in… Read More

• Clinical Trials

  Fewer Die – But Why?

  18 September, 2015

  Well, here’s an interesting situation: a drug that seems to have a definite benefit, but not for the reasons anyone expected, and not for reasons that anyone even understands. The drug is Jardiance (empagliflozin), for diabetes, and the benefit is a flat-out survival benefit, a significant effect on cardiovascular mortality. As Matthew Herper… Read More

• Diabetes and Obesity

  Zebrafish, Finally Taking Over as Foretold

  25 August, 2015

  The idea of phenotypic screening is not new, but once you bring up the topic, you find that different people have different ideas about what a phenotypic screen really is. As has been discussed around here before, not everyone buys into the concept of a cell-based screen as “phenotypic”, but I’m willing to believe in the… Read More

• Animal Testing

  Is Everything Getting Fatter?

  21 August, 2015

  Here’s a weird and interesting paper to think about. There’s an unfortunately clear trend in human populations towards obesity, which seems to have been especially noticeable over the last thirty years or so. (I believe that the average-thinnest US state today would have been the fattest state in 1980, just to give one vivid example).… Read More