Diabetes drug Xoma-052 fails in clinical trials

Biotechnology company Xoma Ltd, based in California, have announced that its experimental diabetes drug Xoma-052 has failed in a clinical trial to reduce levels of blood sugar in diabetes patients .
The study, which involved testing of 421 type 2 diabetes patients with monthly injections of Xoma-052 or a placebo for a period of six months, found that the treatment was not able to reduce levels of blood sugar any more than a placebo, which was the primary goal of the research. However, it did manage to lower levels of c-reactive protein, which is associated with a risk of heart attack or stroke, and the biotech firm hopes to soon expand clinical trials of the drug for these conditions.
The trials showed that levels of ‘good cholesterol ’ were raised in two sets of patients who took the Xoma drug, a finding that may suggest the drug could be useful for treating heart disease, as well as Behcet’s uveitis, a condition that causes eye inflammation .
Steven B. Engle, chief executive officer of Xoma, commented “While this trial did not demonstrate glycemic improvement, the potent anti-inflammatory effects and continued positive safety profile reinforce our Phase 3 development program for Behcet’s uveitis, which we anticipate starting this year.”