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Entelos Granted Patent for Innovative Diagnostic Capability in Obesity, Diabetes
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Cutting-Edge Simulations Help Bring New Drugs and Diagnostics to Market
Foster City, CA -- Entelos, Inc., a simulation and modeling company focused on human health, announced today that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted U.S. Patent No. 7,654,955 entitled "Apparatus and Methods for Assessing Metabolic Substrate Utilization" to the Company. These methods further strengthen the Entelos® Metabolism PhysioLab® platform and leverage insights about human physiology that can lead to improved diagnosis, clinical testing, and personalized treatment across a highly variable patient population. This method may also be used to improve the selection of patients for clinical trials of metabolic therapies and diagnostics.
"We are pleased to add this new patent to cap our leadership position in metabolic disorders such as diabetes and obesity," stated Jeff Trimmer, CSO of Entelos. "Our biosimulation platforms and insightful ‘what if’ scenarios have already led to better decisions in R&D and this new diagnostic capability can stratify patients based on underlying differences in their disease state to optimize care."
It has been estimated that pharmaceutical companies spend more than $1 billion and over 12 years of R&D to get a new medicine to patients. Successful development of new, more effective treatments for diabetes and obesity has been especially difficult since patients vary widely and the effects of diet, exercise, and drug therapies on human physiology are highly unpredictable. Any insights that can be used to better predict a patient’s response to complex treatment regimens could thus accelerate progress in diabetes and obesity research.
The newly patented method extends the ability of the Entelos Metabolism PhysioLab platform to explore, simulate, and predict differences in fuel utilization (e.g., fat, carbohydrate, and protein metabolism) between patients, a key predictor in responses to treatment.
The Entelos Metabolism PhysioLab platform is an innovative, predictive computer model that represents the underlying physiology of metabolic disorders such as obesity and diabetes and uses simulated "virtual patients" to help predict responses. These virtual patients enable new therapies and interventions to be efficiently "flight tested" in a computer before expensive clinical testing in humans, reducing the risk and time to market for novel drugs. The best treatment approaches for specific patient types can be identified earlier, potentially leading to the development of more predictive companion diagnostics and personalized care.
About Diabetes and Obesity
Diabetes is a disease in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy. While the causes of diabetes are still unclear, both genetics and environmental factors such as obesity and lack of exercise appear to play roles. Diabetes can lead to serious health issues such a kidney failure, amputations, blindness, heart attacks, and stroke.
The American Diabetes Association estimates that 23.6 million children and adults in the United States, or 7.8% of the population, have diabetes. It is one of the fastest growing epidemics in the developing world as well, with the incidence in developing countries projected to rise from 84 million in 1995 to 228 million by 2025 according to a recent PriceWaterhouseCoopers report.
The Department of Health and Human Services notes that the prevalence of obesity has more than doubled among adults and has tripled among children and adolescents from 1980 to 2004. Currently, two-thirds of adults and nearly one in three children are overweight or obese. Increased food intake and a sedentary lifestyle are two key contributors to this epidemic.
About Entelos
Entelos, Inc. (www.entelos.com) is a life sciences company applying next-generation predictive technologies to revolutionize the way medicines are discovered, developed, and utilized. The Company leverages its proprietary "virtual human" computer simulations of disease, and toxicology reference systems to develop safer and more effective drugs, improve the quality of health-related consumer products, and deliver on the promise of personalized medicine. Entelos provides customized products, technology and research services to global pharmaceutical, health-care, and consumer products companies in safety testing, arthritis, cardiovascular diseases, asthma, obesity, diabetes, hematopoeisis (anemia), cholesterol metabolism, skin sensitization, and personal care products.
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