Dasiglucagon, a novel ready-to-use glucagon analog in development for treatment of severe hypoglycaemia
Andy Parker
CSO, Zealand Pharma
Glucagon is a peptide hormone produced by the pancreas to raise the concentration of glucose in the bloodstream acting in concert with insulin to maintain glucose homeostasis. Managing diabetes with daily insulin injections is associated with the risk of hypoglycaemia, which in severe cases is associated with mortality. Native glucagon can be used to rescue severe hypoglycaemia, but as glucagon is inherently unstable current formulations are complicated to use, requiring reconstitution immediately before administration.
Dasiglucagon is a stable ready-to-use aqueous solution glucagon analog in Phase III clinical development as the HypoPal® rescue pen to treat severe hypoglycaemia. In addition, the aqueous nature of the dasiglucagon formulation supports long-term use of dasiglucagon in 1) dual-hormonal artificial pancreas pumps in combination with insulin offering the potential to transform management of Type 1 Diabetes and 2) a single hormone pump system to treat the rare disease congenital hyperinsulinism (CHI).
Phase II/III studies are on-going and we will present an overview of progress.
Andrew Parker joined Zealand in July 2016 as Chief Science Officer and Head of Research & External Innovation. Andrew has more than twenty years of experience from senior leadership and managerial positions in international pharmaceutical, biotech and start-up companies, including Shire Pharmaceuticals, Opsona Therapeutics, and AstraZeneca. Prior to joining Zealand, Andrew spent several years in venture capital with Eclosion2 as a General Partner and Scientific Director.
He holds a Ph.D. from the National Institute for Medical Research at Mill Hill, London, conducted post-doctoral research at Johns Hopkins Medical School, Baltimore, USA, and also has an MBA from the University of Warwick Business School, UK.