Diamyd Medical enters exclusive licensing agreement for gluten protein gliadin

Diamyd Medical announced Monday that it has entered into an exclusive license agreement for using the gluten protein gliadin for the treatment and prevention of type 1 diabetes.

The license deal was made directly between Diamyd Medical and the inventors.

“Gliadin is a major antigen in celiac disease and gut disorders, and celiac disease and type 1 diabetes often go together,” Anders Essen-Möller, president and CEO of Diamyd Medical, said. “The Celiac Disease Foundation estimates the prevalence of celiac disease in patients with type 1 diabetes to be approximately eight percent, but only one percent in the general population. We believe that gliadin treatment has a place in combatting these and other diseases and that gliadin and our other proprietary technologies under development, such as GABA and the diabetes vaccine Diamyd, may work synergistically in several aspects.”

Diamyd Medical intends to evaluate combination regimens of gliadin with compounds and antigens, for shutting off the inflammatory component in type 1 diabetes, gluten intolerance and other inflammatory diseases.

“This represents the first successful use of this type of an exogenous environmental antigen in type 1 diabetes disease treatment and prevention,” Karsten Buschard, one of the inventors of the licensed technology, said. “Gluten-free diet is another approach being investigated for preventing type 1 diabetes, but it may not be adequate for treatment of disease once presented. Gluten-free diet is also very cumbersome to adhere to. Inducing tolerance to the antigen may be a better way forward.”