Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mandi have discovered a drug molecule that can be used to treat diabetes. In a press release issued recently, IIT Mandi said that the molecule, named PK2, is able to trigger the release of insulin by the pancreas and can potentially be used as an orally administered medicine for diabetes.
According to the press statement the details of the research have been published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. Dr. Prosenjit Mondal, Associate Professor, School of Basic Sciences, IIT Mandi has authored the paper. Dr Prosenjit Mondal, said “Current drugs such as exenatide and liraglutide used for diabetes, are administered as injections, and they are costly and unstable after administration. We seek to find simpler drugs that are stable, cheap, and effective against both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.”
Dr. Prosenjit Mondal points to another critical finding in their work, “Beyond increasing insulin release, PK2 was also able to prevent and even reverse beta cell loss, a cell essential for insulin production, making it effective for both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.”
The paper has been co-authored by Subrata Ghosh, School of Basic Sciences, IIT Mandi, along with Dr. Sunil Kumar, ICAR- IASRI, PUSA, New Delhi, Dr. Budheswar Dehury, ICMR RMRC, Bhubaneswar, Dr. Khyati Girdhar, Ms. Shilpa Thakur, Dr.Abhinav Choubey, Dr. Pankaj Gaur, Ms. Surbhi Dogra, Ms. Bidisha Biswas from IIT Mandi, and Dr.Durgesh Kumar Dwivedi (Regional Ayurvedic Research Institute (RARI) Gwalior).
