JDRF, Axxam, Fast Forward to develop diabetes, MS treatments

NEW YORK A group of companies and organizations plan to collaborate to develop new treatments for multiple sclerosis and Type 1 diabetes.

Italian life sciences company Axxam, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and Fast Forward, the commercial drug development arm of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, will fund the discovery of new drugs for the two autoimmune diseases.

Axxam will screen its chemical library to identify compounds that can target immune system ion channels, pores in the surface of immune cells that allow the cells to activate. Recent research has shown that the immune cells of patients with MS and Type 1 diabetes have high levels of the Kv1.3 ion channel, and the resulting hyperactivity contributes to dysfunction of the immune system. Meanwhile, the JDRF and Fast Forward will seek to lessen the risk of drug discovery and accelerate the development of new therapies.

“We are pleased to partner with Axxam and JDRF to advance the development of new treatments for [Type 1 diabetes] and MS,” Fast Forward president Timothy Coetzee said.