Dr. Ramesh K. Goyal - June 4, 2012

From Concept to reality: Discovery of newer Antidiabetic compounds

There has been worldwide epidemic of type 2 insulin-resistant diabetes mellitus. Although, most current therapies for diabetes mellitus were developed in the absence of defined molecular targets or understanding of disease pathogenesis, there has been an insidious increase in features of diabetes like obesity, insulin resistance and dyslipidaemia. Thus, in search of newer anti-diabetic drugs, there has been an emergence of several key pathogenic mechanisms, such as the impairment of glucose-stimulated insulin secretion, role of lipotoxicity as a probable cause of hepatic and muscle resistance to insulin's effects on glucose metabolism. A large number of targets for therapy of type 2 diabetes have been identified for inhibition of gluconeogenesis, lipolysis, fatty acid oxidation, as well as stimulation of beta3-adrenergic receptors. Additional drug targets include interventions to prevent or delay the progression of specific complications. Under these circumstances, the process of drug discovery for diabetes has been the development of different targets for multiple underlying pathophysiologic processes. I will discuss our proposal on application of various biochemical targets identified in exploring the time tested drugs including that from natural sources. The presentation will give some examples establishing mechanisms of action of drugs utilizing multiple targets and enhancing faster drug discovery process.