Tularik: Back to the bone
The two marketed glitazones - Avandia rosiglitazone from GlaxoSmithKline plc and Actos pioglitazone from Takeda Chemical Industries Ltd. - have posted impressive sales in the Type II diabetes arena since reaching the market in 1999. But these drugs, which all target PPAR gamma, have significant side effects including weight gain, decreased hematocrit, edema and concomitant risk of heart failure. A third glitazone, Rezulin troglitazone from Warner Lambert Co. (now part of Pfizer Inc.), was pulled from the market in 2000 because of liver toxicities.
With room for improvement in mind, Tularik Inc. evaluated how Actos and Avandia bind PPAR gamma in an effort to cull out the good effects of glitazones from the bad. The company is now ready to test its finding in a Phase I trial of its T131 PPAR gamma agonist, scheduled to begin this month...