DiaMedica is a biopharmaceutical company that develops novel therapeutic products designed to improve the lives of people with Type 1 diabetes, Type 2 diabetes and certain other large-scale diseases. DiaMedica’s lead product candidate, the DM-199 program, has demonstrated in preclinical testing, the ability to improve glucose metabolism while simultaneously protecting and proliferating insulin producing beta cells. DiaMedica also has a panel of monoclonal antibodies (mAb) that uniquely inhibit the enzyme glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (GSK3B). Preclinical evidence from several studies suggests that Inhibition of GSK3B may have a clinical effect against several diseases, including diabetes, cancer, and infectious diseases. DiaMedica’s lead mAb compound is DM-204 for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes and hypertension.

Diabetes is a disease in which the body’s system relied upon to regulate and maintain regular glucose levels in the blood, no longer functions correctly. Insulin is the primary hormone that regulates blood glucose levels. This hormone is secreted by the pancreas in response to increased levels of glucose in the blood following meal consumption. Normally, the liver and peripheral muscle tissues, which are sensitive to insulin, respond to higher blood insulin levels by removing glucose from the blood stream and storing it. This sensitivity to insulin by the liver and muscle tissues ensures regular blood glucose levels are maintained following meal consumption. Type 2 diabetes is characterized primarily by insulin resistance in which the body is unable to remove glucose from the blood, despite elevated blood insulin levels produced by the pancreas following meal consumption. The lack of blood glucose regulation, as a result of insulin resistance, leads to hyperinsulinemia (excess level of insulin circulating in the blood by increased production by the pancreas) and hyperglycemia (abnormally high blood glucose level), which, when left untreated, can lead to complications such as heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, blindness and amputation.