Discovery of an intravenous hepatoselective glucokinase activator for the treatment of inpatient hyperglycemia

A comprehensive review on glucokinase activators: Promising agents for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes

Glucokinase is a key enzyme which converts glucose into glucose-6-phosphate in the liver and pancreatic cells of the human. In the liver, glucokinase promotes the synthesis of glycogen, and in the pancreas, it helps in glucose-sensitive insulin release. It serves as a "glucose sensor" and thereby plays an important role in the regulation of glucose homeostasis. Due to this activity, glucokinase is considered as an attractive drug target for type 2 diabetes. It created a lot of interest among the researchers, and several small molecules were discovered. The research work was initiated in 1990. However, the hypoglycemic effect, increased liver burden, and loss of efficacy over time were faced during clinical development. Dorzagliatin, a novel glucokinase activator that acts on both the liver and pancreas, is in the late-stage clinical development. TTP399, a promising hepatoselective GK activator, showed a clinically significant and sustained reduction in glycated hemoglobin with a low risk of adverse effects. The successful findings generated immense interest to continue further research in finding small molecule GK activators for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. The article covers different series of GK activators reported over the past decade and the structural insights into the GK-GK activator binding which, we believe will stimulate the discovery of novel GK activators to treat type 2 diabetes.

Glucokinase activation as antidiabetic therapy: effect of nutraceuticals and phytochemicals on glucokinase gene expression and enzymatic activity

Diabetes represents an important public health problem. Recently, new molecular targets have been identified and exploited to treat this disease. Due to its pivotal role in glucose homeostasis, glucokinase (GCK) is a promising target for the development of novel antidiabetic drugs; however, pharmacological agents that modulate GCK activity have been linked to undesirable side-effects, limiting its use. Interestingly, plants might be a valuable source of new therapeutic compounds with GCK-activating properties and presumably no adverse effects. In this review, we describe biochemical characteristics related to the physiological and pathological importance of GCK, as well as the mechanisms involved in its regulation at different molecular levels. Posteriorly, we present a compendium of findings supporting the potential use of nutraceuticals and phytochemicals in the management of diabetes through modulation of GCK expression and activity. Finally, we propose critical aspects to keep in mind when designing experiments to evaluate GCK modulation properly.

Addressing unmet medical needs in type 2 diabetes: a narrative review of drugs under development

The global burden of type 2 diabetes is increasing worldwide, and successful treatment of this disease needs constant provision of new drugs. Twelve classes of antidiabetic drugs are currently available, and many new drugs are under clinical development. These include compounds with known mechanisms of action but unique properties, such as once-weekly DPP4 inhibitors or oral insulin. They also include drugs with new mechanisms of action, the focus of this review. Most of these compounds are in Phase 1 and 2, with only a small number having made it to Phase 3 at this time. The new drug classes described include PPAR agonists/modulators, glucokinase activators, glucagon receptor antagonists, anti-inflammatory compounds, G-protein coupled receptor agonists, gastrointestinal peptide agonists other than GLP-1, apical sodium-dependent bile acid transporter (ASBT) inhibitors, SGLT1 and dual SGLT1/SGLT2 inhibitors, and 11beta- HSD1 inhibitors.

How drugs get into cells: tested and testable predictions to help discriminate between transporter-mediated uptake and lipoidal bilayer diffusion

One approach to experimental science involves creating hypotheses, then testing them by varying one or more independent variables, and assessing the effects of this variation on the processes of interest. We use this strategy to compare the intellectual status and available evidence for two models or views of mechanisms of transmembrane drug transport into intact biological cells. One (BDII) asserts that lipoidal phospholipid Bilayer Diffusion Is Important, while a second (PBIN) proposes that in normal intact cells Phospholipid Bilayer diffusion Is Negligible (i.e., may be neglected quantitatively), because evolution selected against it, and with transmembrane drug transport being effected by genetically encoded proteinaceous carriers or pores, whose “natural” biological roles, and substrates are based in intermediary metabolism. Despite a recent review elsewhere, we can find no evidence able to support BDII as we can find no experiments in intact cells in which phospholipid bilayer diffusion was either varied independently or measured directly (although there are many papers where it was inferred by seeing a covariation of other dependent variables). By contrast, we find an abundance of evidence showing cases in which changes in the activities of named and genetically identified transporters led to measurable changes in the rate or extent of drug uptake. PBIN also has considerable predictive power, and accounts readily for the large differences in drug uptake between tissues, cells and species, in accounting for the metabolite-likeness of marketed drugs, in pharmacogenomics, and in providing a straightforward explanation for the late-stage appearance of toxicity and of lack of efficacy during drug discovery programmes despite macroscopically adequate pharmacokinetics. Consequently, the view that Phospholipid Bilayer diffusion Is Negligible (PBIN) provides a starting hypothesis for assessing cellular drug uptake that is much better supported by the available evidence, and is both more productive and more predictive.