ABOUT DIABETES
Diabetes is a number of diseases that involve problems with the hormone insulin. Normally, insulin helps our body store and use the sugar and fat from the food you eat. Diabetes can occur when the pancreas produces very little or no insulin (type 1 diabetes), or when the body does not respond appropriately to insulin (type 2 diabetes). Importantly, the most significant causes to type 2 diabetes are genetics and lifestyle (lack of physical activity and overweight).
WHAT DIABETES DOES TO THE BODY
When the insulin cannot be used effectively, blood glucose levels rise while the rest of the body cells are deprived of much-needed energy. In addition, diabetes can cause long-term damage to our body. The long-term damage is commonly referred to as diabetic complications and it includes kidney damage, heart diseases, blindness, slow skin healing and stroke.
AN UNMET MEDICAL NEED
It has been estimated that the world prevalence of diabetes will increase by 54% by 2030 to ~650 million patients. Although incidence rates of type 1 diabetes have remained fairly stable, the number of people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes has been steadily growing. Type 2 diabetes currently comprises ~90% of all diabetes cases in both the United States and Europe, and close to 100% in Asia. In 2015, an estimated 1.6 million deaths were directly caused by diabetes and another 2.2 million deaths were attributable to high blood glucose in 2012. The direct and indirect medical costs exceed $245 billion annually. As there is no cure for type 2 diabetes, patients are recommended to ‘manage blood glucose levels’ by diet and exercise. However, compliance with such regimens tends to be low and thus patients will eventually be prescribed medications. These medications, who act via various mechanisms, include insulin secretagogues, insulin sensitizers, α-glucosidase inhibitors, amylin analogs, incretin mimetics, insulin and SGLT2 inhibitors. However, although the number of approved medications is growing, the goal of treatment, which is maintaining an HbA1C of ≤ 7%, is still difficult to achieve, as around 50% of the patients do not responding suitably to the medications and fail to meet the desired glycemic goal, which fuels the demand for effective therapies.
Diabest was co-founded by individuals with a history of delivering products and results. To overcome the complex challenges of diabetes, Diabest is making use of a S. spinosum, a traditional medicinal herb, used by Bedouin healers. Diabest has developed a coordinated group of product-oriented research teams. Each team leverages different skill sets to tackle different challenges. This multidisciplinary approach is designed to produce a new diabetes treatment. The diabetes treatment integrates proprietary, S. spinosum growing and extraction. Diabest believes that S. spinosum will help to maintain healthy blood sugar levels and to evade diabetic complications.
OUR R&D PROGRESS
1. S. spinosum root extract was found to exert a significant anti-diabetic effect in mice
2. Identified mechanism of action of S. spinosum extract, which is different from metformin
3. Data of diabetic mice treated with the extract showed improved glucose tolerance and reduced plasma insulin level (improves insulin sensitivity or mimic its effect in target tissues).
4. No visible toxicity
5. Plant harvesting, production of dry extract and capsulation
6. Optimization of S. spinosum growing protocol
7. Characterizing S. spinosum ecotypes generating increased biological activity