NovaTarg Inc.
Activating an enzyme to treat metabolic disease and cancer
This article was originally published in Start Up
Executive Summary
Many companies would like to emulate the success of metformin, the most widely prescribed oral anti-diabetic medication in the world. Metformin helps people control their diabetes primarily by suppressing glucose production in the liver, and it does this by activating an enzyme called AMP-activated protein kinase. The drug’s observed benefits continue inspiring researchers to seek other ways of activating AMPK, but so far no one has been able to match Metformin. NovaTarg Inc. thinks it is on the right track. The start-up has found and is developing compounds that activate AMPK in a tissue-selective way.