Engineered mice prove diabetes treatment

The pharmaceutical company Elixir Pharmaceuticals Inc. have claimed that engineering mice could open up the possibility of better treating type 2 diabetes and obesity . The process serves to block a naturally occurring hormone in the body.
The company, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, engineered the mice to lack a key receptor for the hormone that regulated metabolism and stimulates the appetite. The research team then compared the mice with regular mice, and found that as well as being 20 per cent lighter, the engineered mice had markers showing type 2 diabetes was under control.
Elixir are now expected the incorporate the process in their drug development program. The future, Elixir say, could see a market for these products exceeding $2 billion. Human clinical trials may soon be underway.