Partnership validates the use of new technology in drug discovery process and furthers the possibility of more effective drug development for obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Newton, MA, November 5, 2021 - MelliCell, Inc., a startup dedicated to reversing obesity and type 2 diabetes by targeting fat cells, announced today the completion of its partnership with Novo Nordisk, validating its M3 platform technology.
M3 technology, which enables maturation of human adipocytes in vitro, solved the 50-year old problem that has limited predictive power at the very first stage of drug development. The technology efficiently turns primary human preadipocytes into fat cells and accelerates their growth to sizes that are thousands of times larger than conventional methods and that match the sizes of mature fat cells in adults. Changes in fat cell size are how adults gain (or lose) weight, and increased fat cell size predicts diabetes better than obesity per se. MelliCell uses this proprietary model of weight gain in human fat cells to develop therapeutics for diabetes and obesity.
This newly developed bioengineering technology differentiates MelliCell and fuels the mission and belief within the company that a cure for diabetes and obesity will be found. This technology is poised to change the industry as a valuable mechanism for drug discovery.
As world leaders in diabetes care and innovation, Novo Nordisk supports and partners with organizations whose activities have a positive impact on diabetes and our other therapeutic areas of interest, including obesity. Novo Nordisk has pioneered the treatment of diabetes since the discovery of insulin 100 years ago. The partnership is one of several early milestones that MelliCell has completed in its short history.
“This is an important milestone not only for MelliCell, but the entire field of metabolic drug discovery. This demonstrates the ability of our platform to quickly test and optimize possible drug therapies for metabolic diseases,” said Prince Nnah, CEO and co-founder of MelliCell.
This successful milestone signals the initiation of MelliCell’s work with multiple pharmaceutical companies, with a focus on creating leads for new drugs that will help patients in need.