Metabasis Therapeutics Inc will give two oral presentations and one poster presentation on CS-917 (MB06322), its first-in-class oral gluconeogenesis inhibitor for the treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (diabetes) at the 40th Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD).

The results presented at the meeting will include data from studies in various diabetic and normal animal models as a mono-therapy, as well as data on combination of the drug in animal studies with glyburide, a sulfonylurea commonly prescribed to patients with type 2 diabetes. A third presentation will discuss results from preclinical studies designed to delineate the mechanism of action of CS-917 for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, release from Metabasis said.

Dr. Mark Erion, executive vice president of Research and Development said, "The presentations we are making at the EASD meeting highlight the ground breaking work at Metabasis focused on the inhibition of liver glucose production for the treatment of diabetes. We are very proud of our accomplishments on this programme. We began with an interesting but difficult target in the gluconeogenesis pathway and over the past five years we have identified several potent and selective clinical candidates. As we reported previously, one of these candidates, CS-917, has moved through two initial Phase II studies and was shown to significantly lower blood glucose levels in patients. In addition, if all goes according to plan we expect our second generation candidate, MB07803, to enter the clinic next year."

CS-917 is currently undergoing clinical testing in patients with diabetes. Metabasis recently reported successful completion of a 28-day Phase IIA trial on CS-917 that provided evidence that this new class of drugs is capable of significantly reducing blood glucose levels in patients with type 2 diabetes. Sankyo, Metabasis' partner on the project, has responsibility for funding and directing the clinical development of the drug.

Metabasis Therapeutics Inc is an emerging pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel small molecule drugs principally to treat metabolic diseases linked to pathways in the liver and to treat liver diseases.