More than 154 million people world-wide suffer from type 2 diabetes (T2D) including 15 million in the US, 44 million in the rest of the developed world and 99 million in developing countries. T2D is the fourth largest cause of death in some geographical regions. In the US, the prevalence of T2D increased by approximately 30% between 1990 and 1998, with the sharpest increase, a striking 76%, in the 30-39 age group. World-wide incidence is set to increase to 300 million by 2025. Correspondingly, diabetes places a major strain on national health budgets costing $100 billion/year (10% of health funds) in the US alone. Worldwide, over $5 billion was spent on oral diabetes drugs in 2000; over $12.5 billion will be spent in 2006. These figures have set the scene for a massive increase in pharmaceutical activity surrounding T2D. The number of T2D-related pharmaceuticals in development or on the market has been increasing steadily since 1998 and this field now accounts for 2% of all therapeutic candidates or marketed products. At its current growth rate, T2D will account for 10% of global pharmaceutical activity by 2020. Almost 200 therapeutic candidates or marketed products spanning 10 major pharmacological classes have been associated with T2D. The growth of the field appears related to a continuing increase in the development of a number of pharmacological classes including protein tyrosine phosphatase B inhibitors, PPAR agonists, insulin sensitizers and insulin analogues. Insulin analogues are molecules derived by modifying the structure of the human insulin molecule, resulting in altered physico-chemical, biological and pharmacodynamic properties. These modifications are designed to provide improved physiological time-action profiles with either a shorter onset and shorter duration of action (insulin lispro and insulin aspart) or a more constant effect lasting at least 24 hours (insulin glargine). These advantages in the time-action profiles have been shown to improve various surrogate parameters (e.g., postprandial blood glucose concentrations) in a number of randomized controlled trials. Considering the advances in this field, LeadDiscovery intends to produce a full DiscoveryDossier overviewing the therapeutic potential of and the commercial activity surrounding the development of insulin analogues. This report will be made available on general release if there is sufficient interest - alternatively the report can be produced as a customized document for interested companies.

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