LoneStar Heart gets rights to possible diabetes treatments

LoneStar Heart, a USA-based developer of proprietary biopolymer, small molecule and cellular-based therapies to effectively treat heart failure and other cardiac conditions, says it has acquired a worldwide exclusive license from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UT Southwestern) to commercialize a new class of patented small molecules known as Isoxazoles that markedly increase insulin production in human pancreas cells no longer able to produce insulin.

Activating the entire biochemical pathway involved in insulin production, the molecules may represent a new approach to developing treatments for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

"Our exclusive license with UT Southwestern builds upon previous licensing agreements with broad coverage for the small molecules involved," explained Frank Ahmann, president and chief operating officer of LoneStar Heart, adding: "Research at UT Southwestern has shown that, in addition to their potential application to diabetes, they may also modulate the differentiation of stem cells into nerve cells, and they can induce a population of progenitor cells found in the heart to become cardiac muscle cells." Progenitor cells are a type of adult stem cell that is further differentiated toward becoming its target cell, and act as a repair system for the body.