Veterans with type 2 diabetes and elevated triglycerides at risk for cardiac events may be eligible to participate in a new study sponsored by the KOWA Research Institute www.knowaus.com.
Dr. Jacob Joseph and the “Clinical Research Partnerships and Innovations Program’ based in Boston and Dr. Marshall Elam at the Memphis VA, prepared the 41 medical centers for the five year study aimed at reducing cardiovascular events by reducing triglycerides.
The international study is being directed by Dr. Paul Ridker and Dr. Aruna Pradhan of the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention, at Brigham & Women’s Hospital and the Harvard Medical School.
Phase 3 of the trial will recruit an estimated 10,000 high risk diabetic patients worldwide. All participants will receive an aggressive standard of care management for their cardiovascular risk factors including treatment with high intensity statins.
The Kowa Research Institute specifically set out to create the most potent and selective PPAR modulator ever developed and succeeded with a drug called K-877. This drug is at least 1,000 times as potent and selective as other drugs.
The trial will include diabetic patients with and without established cardiovascular disease and will test whether K-877 reduces the occurrence of heart attacks, hospitalizations for unstable angina requiring unplanned revascularization, stroke, or death from cardiovascular causes.
Kowa has completed clinical development of K-877 for hyperlipidemia in Japan and has submitted the drug for approval as a new drug. The company’s clinical studies have shown that K-877 will significantly reduce triglycerides, ApoC3, remnant cholesterol, and also increases functional HDL and Fibroblast Growth Factor 21 (FGF21).
In other research news at the VA https://www.va.gov, researchers are studying innovative strategies such as group visits, using telemedicine, peer counseling, internet-based education, and case management to improve access to diabetes care. The VA is also working to prevent or treat diabetes especially with the elderly, amputees, minorities, spinal cord injured patients and patients with kidney and heart disease.
Go to https://www.research.va.gov/topics/diabetes.cfm for more information on diabetes research at the VA.