Springer Translational Research Methods for Diabetes, Obesity and Cardiometabolic Drug Development: A Focus on Early Phase Clinical Studies

The world is beset by a pandemic of obesity and type 2 diabetes and the need for new drugs is startlingly clear; recent years have seen a huge increase in research activity to fill this gap. The development of new drugs for diabetes and obesity must be founded upon a sound appreciation of the pathophysiology of these common disorders. The dual defects of insulin resistance and impaired insulin secretion are fundamental to the pathogenesis and progression of obesity-associated type 2 diabetes.  There is a need to explain how new drugs can counter insulin resistance and insulin deficiency to a broad range of professionals, from clinical scientists active in early (and later) phase drug development to specialist physicians and increasingly primary care doctors who must tailor drug regimens to the individual patient.   Clinical research methods for measuring insulin action and insulin secretion have become well-established in proof-of-mechanism studies; however, selection of the best techniques is by no means straightforward.  The purpose of the book is to aid the selection of the most appropriate techniques for assessing insulin action,  insulin secretion and body composition in humans (with particular reference to new drugs) in phase 1 and 2 studies and aid the understanding of drug effects and non-drug treatment strategies on key biochemical-hormonal defects of obesity and type 2 diabetes.  The book will assume a working knowledge of human physiology relating to glucose metabolism and will be of interest to biomedical scientists, pharmacologists, academics involved in metabolic research and clinicians practicing in these specialties. Review “An important resource for researchers to orient themselves in the choice of correct study techniques, for both metabolic studies related to drug development and clinical studies. … it is also a great resource for experienced researchers in the field as a useful compendium of the major and emerging techniques already used in the study of the pathophysiology of metabolism, and as a valuable aid to researchers beginning studies in the field for choosing the most appropriate techniques for their purposes.” (Stefania Camastra, Pharmaceutical Medicine, Vol. 30, 2016) From the Back Cover This book aims to aid the selection of the most appropriate techniques for use in early phase (1 and 2) clinical studies of new drugs for diabetes, obesity, and related cardiometabolic disease. Clinical research methods for assessing the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of new diabetes drugs, e.g. the euglycaemic clamp technique, have become well-established in proof-of-mechanism studies; however, selection of the best techniques is by no means straightforward. This book will aid the understanding of the need for new pharmacotherapies for type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, and obesity and the molecular targets of drugs currently in development.  Emerging technologies including the omics disciplines are considered together with practical and ethical issues of early phase clinical trials in subjects with cardiometabolic disorders. Translational Research Methods for Diabetes, Obesity and Cardiometabolic Drug Development  will be of interest to biomedical scientists, pharmacologists, academics involved in metabolic research and clinicians practicing in these specialties. About the Author Andrew J Krentz, Senior Director of Scientific Services at the Profil Institute, is a clinical academic with more than three decades of experience in diabetes and cardiometabolic medicine. He holds a visiting chair at the Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Postgraduate Medical School, University of Bedfordshire UK where he was Associate Professor before joining Profil. Prior to this he was a senior physician in internal medicine, diabetes & endocrinology at Southampton University Hospitals, UK. Lutz Heinemann, Senior Scientific Consultant at the Profil Institute, has acted a