Metabolic Solutions Development Company Adds Barbara Cannon to Science and Medical Advisory Board

KALAMAZOO, Mich., April 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Metabolic Solutions Development Company, LLC (MSDC) has appointed Barbara Cannon, PhD to its Science and Medical Advisory Board. Dr. Cannon is a professor of physiology at Stockholm University's Wenner-Gren Institute for Experimental Biology. For 25 years, until 2010, she was director of the Institute, which conducts research and teaching in cell biology, developmental biology, immunology and physiology. This year she was elected president of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

"We are extremely pleased to have Dr. Cannon join our advisory board," said Stephen Benoit, MSDC's chief executive officer. "Her groundbreaking insights into brown fat metabolism will contribute significantly to the explanation of the mechanisms by which our novel insulin sensitizers improve insulin sensitivity in patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes."

For four decades, Dr. Cannon's research has focused on the function of brown adipose tissue. Her recent insight, together with that of others, that brown adipose tissue consists of cells of myogenic origin - and is thus not really an "adipose tissue" - has further clarified the differences between brown and white adipose tissues and suggests that brown adipose tissue can now be expected to display muscle-characteristic genes rather than adipose-characteristic genes.

"I am pleased to join the MSDC team and look forward to contributing to the groundbreaking work they are doing to develop new therapeutics to treat age-related metabolic diseases," said Dr. Cannon. "Brown adipose tissue is of particular interest in terms of its effect on metabolism and the development of obesity. Insulin sensitizers that increase brown fat can have important implications for the development of new therapies to treat type 2 diabetes."

Dr. Cannon has held more than 30 high-ranking and honorary positions in the scientific community, both in Scandinavia and in Europe, among them chairman of the Trustees of the Nobel Foundation for three years until 2011; dean of the sub-faculty of biology at Stockholm University; chairman of the European Editorial Committee, Physiological Reviews; deputy secretary general of the Science and Technology Board of the Swedish Research Council; professor of physiology, The Royal Veterinary College, London; and honorary doctor, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.

A British citizen, Dr. Cannon trained in biochemistry at London University, earning a BSc, and received a PhD in physiology from Stockholm University. She completed a postdoctoral appointment at National Research Council of Canada in Ottawa. At MSDC, she joins fellow Science and Medical Advisory Board members William Baer, MD, PharmD; Charles F. Burant, MD, PhD; Jerry Colca, PhD; Rolf Kletzien, PhD; and Douglas R. Morton Jr., PhD.

About Metabolic Solutions Development Company

Metabolic Solutions Development Company (www.msdrx.com) is a drug discovery and development company investigating new molecular targets and developing novel therapeutics to treat metabolic diseases associated with age-related mitochondrial dysfunction, especially insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. The company's lead products, MSDC-0160 and MSDC-0602, are the first anti-diabetic agents in a new class of insulin sensitizers characterized as mTOT Modulators for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.

Contact: Mike Beyer, Ritz Communications, [email protected], 312-961-2502

SOURCE Metabolic Solutions Development Company, LLC