EPO plays defense

North American researchers have shown that erythropoietin can stave off the destruction of pancreatic islet b cells in mouse models of type 1 and type 2 diabetes.¹Although erythropoietin itself is unlikely to become a diabetes therapy due to potential safety issues, the findings could add a new indication for tissue-protecting erythropoietin mimetics being developed by Warren Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Erythropoietin (EPO) initially was thought to act as a growth factorin the bone marrow to trigger proliferation of red blood cell precursors. Indeed, that hypothesis prompted Amgen Inc. to develop Epogen recombinant EPO, whichwas initially approved to treat anemia associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD) in 1989...