‘Besides stimulating insulin secretion, it may promote β-cell regeneration and improve β-cell quality, potentially addressing both symptoms and underlying causes.’
36Kr learned that Innogen recently completed a new financing round co-led by KIP Capital and Cowin Capital, with participation from BioTrack Capital, Hongtai Fund and Lanting Investment. Proceeds will support supaglutide’s Phase III trials, advancement of multiple pipeline products and construction of a GMP production line.
This historical report describes Innogen as founded in 2015 and as an internationally oriented pharmaceutical R&D and manufacturing business focused on diabetes and metabolic disease. Founder Professor Qinghua Wang said its first innovative diabetes medicine, efsubaglutide alfa, a long-acting human GLP-1 product, had entered Phase III. Other innovative diabetes and metabolic programs were progressing in clinical and preclinical development.
Citing World Health Organization figures, the report put the global diabetes population at approximately 415 million and China’s at more than 130 million, the largest national total. It reported that Chinese prevalence had risen from an average of 0.67% to 11.6%, and projected that lifestyle changes and population ageing would keep prevalence at 11–12% over the following decade.
Professor Wang had said that treatment options such as insulin injections and oral glucose-lowering medicines address symptoms without resolving the underlying problem, and that frequent injections can make adherence difficult.
The report identifies insufficient insulin secretion by pancreatic β cells as a root cause of diabetes and describes β-cell regeneration as a strategy for addressing both causes and symptoms. It reports that Innogen developed efsubaglutide alfa injection, a long-acting human GLP-1 biologic for administration every one to two weeks, which the report says stimulates insulin secretion and may promote β-cell regeneration and improve β-cell quality.
Research has identified a reduced incretin effect as one contributor to type 2 diabetes. Reduced GLP-1 secretion is among the factors associated with diminished β-cell sensitivity and function. GLP-1 is a peptide hormone acting both as an incretin and a neurotransmitter, with multiple functions in the body.
According to the team, efsubaglutide alfa injection has greater human homology, which it associates with relatively fewer side effects and broader clinical suitability. The team also cites a cost advantage from local manufacturing compared with imported products in the same class.
On market adoption, the report states that US and European diabetes treatment guidelines had designated GLP-1 receptor agonists as first-line injectable therapy and that Chinese diabetes experts had also reached a consensus.
The first GLP-1 receptor agonist, exenatide, described in the source as an AstraZeneca product, was approved in 2005. By the time of this report, marketed products included shorter-acting exenatide, lixisenatide and liraglutide, and longer-acting exenatide microspheres, albiglutide, dulaglutide, semaglutide and loxenatide, the latter developed by Hansoh.
The report cites EvaluatePharma’s forecast that the global GLP-1 receptor agonist market would exceed US$12 billion in 2022, driven by dulaglutide and semaglutide. It anticipated a similar trend in China as new domestic and international medicines launched and reimbursement expanded, reshaping diabetes treatment and making GLP-1 receptor agonists an important source of market growth.