Arecor to develop "holy grail" diabetes treatment with partner TRx

(Alliance News) - Arecor Therapeutics PLC on Tuesday announced a new partnership in the growing field of diabetes and obesity treatments.

The West Sussex, England-based biopharmaceutical firm will work with drug development company TRx Biosciences Ltd on the development of oral delivery of a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist product.

GLP-1s are used to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity, in a market tipped to reach USD80 billion to USD100 billion by 2030, Arecor noted, citing Bloomberg Intelligence.

"Oral delivery of this class of drug is extremely challenging owing to the proteolytic nature of the digestive system, which significantly reduces bioavailability," Arecor said.

Injections therefore remain the most common delivery form for these type of treatments, "limiting adoption, compliance and usages among patients", Arecor said.

Arecor's Chief Executive Officer Sarah Howell said: "If the initial research collaboration is successful, we would hope to leverage the technology to deliver other high value peptides via patient-preferred oral delivery formats."

Arecor said Novo Nordisk AS, one of Europe's largest listed companies and one that has been at the heart of the weight loss drug boom, is the developer of the only GLP-1 receptor agonist currently in pill form.

TRx Biosciences CEO Robin Bannister said: "The effective oral delivery of peptides remains a 'holy grail', meaning patients that require the convenience of oral treatment can't access the benefits of new peptide therapies. By combining TRx's LipiCore technology with Arecor's proven peptide expertise and Arestat platform, we create the opportunity to access novel oral uptake channels and protect peptides from damage in the gastrointestinal tract to solve this fundamental challenge."

Shares in Arecor were down 0.2% to 132.30 pence each in London on Tuesday afternoon.

By Elijah Dale, Alliance News reporter

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