SmartCells enters $1M partnership with JDRF

US firm SmartCells, a spin-off from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has entered into a $1.0-million partnership with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation to advance SmartInsulin, SmartCells' once-a-day, glucose-regulated subcutaneous insulin-formulation diabetes treatment

Under the terms of the partnership, $1.0 million of first-year funding will be supplied by the JDRF to support preclinical safety and efficacy studies of SmartInsulin in type 1 diabetes. The partnership is structured to support milestone-based funding through proof-of-concept human clinical trials.

"JDRF's support will accelerate the commercial development of SmartInsulin. Our formulation is designed to address the most critical issue in diabetes treatment - achieving tight glucose control without inducing severe hypoglycemic episodes. To accomplish this, patients will only have to inject SmartInsulin once a day using the same needles currently used for conventional insulin. We expect these important treatment benefits will improve patient safety and quality of life while reducing diabetic complications," said Todd Zion, chief executive of SmartCells.