Patients in the study will receive CS-917, placebo, or an active comparator for a period of three months.
CS-917 is a first-in-class, orally active, inhibitor of FBPase, an enzyme that regulates production of glucose in the liver. The drug, which Sankyo licensed from biopharmaceutical company Metabasis, has shown promise as a treatment for diabetes in preclinical and early clinical studies.
In two previously completed phase IIa clinical trials involving a total of 185 patients with type 2 diabetes, treatment with CS-917 resulted in clinically and statistically significant reductions in blood sugar levels.
If successfully developed, CS-917 is expected to be used alone or in combination with certain other diabetes therapies that target the removal of glucose from the blood.