| Professor of cellular signalling Grahame Hardie, of the School of Life Sciences, said they were working with pharmaceutical firms on a project that could raise a sizeable sum for the university.
The research stems from a discovery made at the university in the 1980s involving AMPK, a protein that monitors energy levels in cells.
It has become a target for the development of drugs, which would work by making muscles think they were exercising even when they were not, resulting in excess sugar and fat being “burnt off.”
Said Professor Hardie today, “I can’t name any names, but more than one major company is now working on the idea we have developed.
“We are assisting them, and hopefully this will generate some revenue for the university. Hopes of marketing a new drug look very promising.”
Diabetes-tackling drugs are a potential goldmine for pharmaceutical firms — the currently most widely-prescribed treatment has sales of around $1.8billion a year.
The incidence of Type 2 diabetes, which is characterised by high blood sugar, is reaching epidemic proportions worldwide, with current projections of 200 million people suffering from the condition by 2010.
Type 2 diabetes is also strongly linked with obesity. |
