AstraZeneca (STO:AZN)(LSE:AZN) today announced that MedImmune, its global biologics research and development arm, and NGM Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. have entered into an exclusive agreement to discover, develop and commercialise novel therapeutics from NGM’s enteroendocrine cell (EEC) programme for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and obesity.
EECs represent less than 1% of all gastrointestinal (GI) cells, but produce virtually all of the known GI hormones, including GLP-1. EECs are an underexplored source of novel hormones that could play a major role in the positive and negative regulation of metabolism and glucose homeostasis. NGM has established a proprietary platform capable of isolating and analysing EECs in order to identify novel secreted peptide hormones that are potentially linked to the profound metabolic effects of bariatric surgery and serve as potential targets for the treatment of metabolic diseases.