The award will support screening and discovery of new drugs that stimulate endogenous secretion of adiponectin, an established biomarker with multiple salutary effects on the prevention of obesity-related diseases, from human adipocytes.
DBM CEO Erik Schwiebert said the NCCAM is providing critical financial support to a drug discovery program that has potential to make a major impact on diabetes and obesity.
"New, first in class drugs are needed for metabolic disease and DBM has multiple targets and multiple human cell platforms optimized for this effort," Schwiebert added.
Adiponectin is a fat-derived hormone or adipokine involved in biological processes such as glucose regulation and fatty acid metabolism and has been identified as a key protein that can prevent metabolic disease and associated complications such as diabetes and atherosclerosis.
DBM chief laboratory officer and principal investigator of the program Eric Seales said, "It made sense from a biological perspective to help the human body make more of an important adipokine to control and reverse metabolic disease; we are simply looking for the right drug or drugs to accomplish this therapeutic strategy."