Research by ClinMet Scientific Founder and Colleagues Point to Enzyme that Restores Function in Diabetic Kidney Disease

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 31, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- ClinMet today announced that researchers from The University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and colleagues have published new findings that could fundamentally change understanding of how diabetes-related diseases develop – and how they might be better treated. A prevailing theory suggests that mitochondrial function is overactive in diabetes and leads to complications such as kidney, eye, nerve and possibly cardiovascular disease. However, these new studies suggest that real-time production of superoxide – a marker of mitochondrial activity – is actually reduced, rather than elevated, in diabetic kidney disease and potentially other organs as well. Furthermore, stimulating mitochondrial production, function and superoxide levels led to improvement in diabetic kidney disease.

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The new research, authored by UC San Diego professor and ClinMet scientific founder, Kumar Sharma, M.D., F.A.H.A (Director of the Center for Renal Translational Medicine, Division of Nephrology-Hypertension and the Institute of Metabolomic Medicine) and colleagues, was published online on October 25 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. ClinMet has an exclusive license to use kidney metabolomics findings by Dr. Sharma and his team in drug development and other applications, based on patents filed by UC San Diego.

"These new data suggest that a major theory on the role of mitochondrial function in diabetic complications has to be questioned," said Dr. Sharma. "In particular, our findings that an increase in mitochondrial function and superoxide production is associated with improvement in diabetic complications suggest that approaches to stimulate mitochondrial function may be beneficial as a new treatment for diabetic complications."

"These key insights from a translational research perspective strongly support important concepts identified via metabolomics studies, as illustrated by Dr. Sharma's publication earlier this month in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. They point to the utility of metabolomics technology, like that offered by ClinMet, to gain new insights about disease that can be further confirmed through translational animal studies," commented Yesh Subramanian, President, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of ClinMet.

Upcoming Kidney Week Presentation

Dr. Sharma will be discussing his team's recent findings at the upcoming American Society of Nephrology's Kidney Week 2013 meeting, which is being held November 5 – 10 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Date: November 8, 2013
Time: 2:00 – 2:30 pm
Place:  Room 305
Title: Proteomic and Metabolomics Approaches to Identifying New Targets in DN

Representatives from ClinMet will also be participating in the ASN's Innovators Place™, which ASN has designed to offer the opportunity for scientific discourse between scientific and medical representatives of product innovators and the nephrology community. Biotechnology and pharmaceutical developers interested in hearing more about how ClinMet's proprietary metabolomics platform can aid the drug development process and sharpen clinical trials should visit the Innovators Place™ booth IP11 between 9:30 am EST and 2:30 PM EST from November 7-9.

About ClinMet (Clinical Metabolomics Inc.)

ClinMet, founded in 2011, is a privately held company based in San Diego, CA that provides pharmaceutical companies with clinically relevant insights and actionable information about drug efficacy, safety and mechanism of action using its proprietary urine metabolomics biomarker platform for diabetes, kidney disease, obesity and cardiovascular disease. ClinMet applies its unique combination of in-depth clinical insights, proprietary metabolomics expertise, and computational know-how to improve the speed and success rate of drug development. The company helps drug developers to efficiently transform promising compounds into safe and effective medicines and to effectively develop and implement their companion diagnostics strategy.

ClinMet's technology and clinical expertise is based on the research legacy of William Nyhan, M.D., Ph.D., founding head of the Biochemical Genetics and Metabolomics Laboratory and the founding Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics at UC San Diego. Dr. Nyhan, one of the founding fathers of the field of Human Metabolic Diseases, and his team have developed many of the gold standard diagnostic methods of mass spectrometry and metabolomic analysis that are used by centers of excellence in human genetics and metabolism around the world. Moreover, ClinMet scientific founder, Kumar Sharma, is a world-recognized expert on diabetic kidney disease and in translational research. He has led several landmark studies in diabetic kidney disease at a translational research level and has dedicated his career to developing new therapies for patients with chronic kidney disease.

For more information, please visit the ClinMet website at http://www.clinmet.com.

SOURCE ClinMet