• Adocia is a leading research laboratory in Lyon for metabolic diseases such as diabetes and obesity.

  • Its researchers aim to improve the treatment of diabetics, particularly those who require transplantation of insulin-producing cells.

  • The current development of a hydrogel would reduce the risk of transplant rejection and make it possible to dispense with immunosuppressive drugs.

A breath of hope could well change the daily lives of diabetics.

He is currently incubating at Adocia, a family company founded in 2005 in Lyon, which has reached a cutting-edge level in this field.

“Our objective is to improve treatments for metabolic diseases, mainly diabetes,” explains Jérémy Benattar, Adocia's Strategy Director.

The laboratory is already working to improve existing drugs, by developing new insulin formulas.

“We are also interested in obesity, because we realized that the molecules used to regulate blood sugar have a weight loss effect.

»

Cell transplants with unsafe effects

Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin, a hormone that regulates blood sugar;

the blood sugar level is then too high.

Incurable, diabetes requires heavy daily treatment, especially for types 1 (where the pancreas does not secrete insulin at all) and 2 (the body uses insulin poorly).

However, among type 2 diabetes, a subpopulation fails to balance its blood sugar, even with existing treatments.

These so-called “unstable” diabetics then have recourse to a transplant of insulin-secreting cells.

But these transplants require finding donors, and they do not work systematically.

The patient must take immunosuppressive drugs, with heavy side effects.

A hydrogel that would block cell-destroying antibodies

This is where Adocia innovates: by developing a hydrogel that would allow unstable diabetics to be transplanted without having to resort to immunosuppressive drugs.

How? 'Or' What ?

"By protecting the grafted cells in a hydrogel, which has a selective porosity", explains Jérémy Benattar.

“It lets in the sugar that stimulates the cells to secrete insulin, and lets them out to play their regulatory role”.

This hydrogel, composed of 95% water, on the other hand prevents the passage of the elements of the immune system: "an antibody can no longer enter there to go and kill the cells".

Adocia researchers have achieved in vitro results.

"Today, we are testing on animals, on rodents and pigs", confirms Jérémy Benattar.

“The objective is to obtain, in the medium or long term, a satisfactory secretion of insulin.

Once we've proven that, we could do a first-in-human study pretty quickly.

It's a huge challenge, but we hope to be able to do it by the end of the year.

»

If such a treatment becomes democratized, it could be extended to less seriously affected patients.

A major challenge since diabetes currently affects 530 million people worldwide, including more than 3.5 million French people.

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  • Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

  • Graft

  • Lyons

  • Medicine

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  • Diabetes

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