Healthcare industry

Article - 15/05/2009

Diabetes: we cannot wait any longer, we must act now!

The renowned endocrinologist Prof. Bernhard Böhm from Ulm, like many of his colleagues, is of the opinion that diabetes is a problem that concerns society as a whole. The following interview with the head of endocrinology at the University Hospital of Ulm shows why the USA invests 50 times more money into diabetes research and Böhm tells us about the three wishes he would ask of a “diabetes fairy”.

Dossier - 11/05/2009

Diabetes, a danger that is still underestimated

In 2010 there will be 10 million diabetes patients in Germany and nearly 33 millions in Europe. The diabetes avalanche is rolling and what is Germany doing? So far so little say experts. There is a lot happening at the same time in different places little is evaluated and a lot is lost in the maelstrom of individual interests. The figures are clear The metabolic disease known as diabetes has reached the proportions of a worldwide epidemic. It not…

An international team of scientists working on the largest diabetes study to date have found 12 new diabetes genes in around 140000 Europeans. One of the authors the endocrinologist Bernhard Böhm from Ulm considers the findings to be a breakthrough in the research and treatment of type 2 diabetes.

Article - 20/05/2009

One-sided diabetes debate – social issues not in the public domain

Paediatrician and epidemiologist Reinhard Holl does not like exaggeration. He knows the real statistics only too well and, at the same time, is well aware how different statistics relating to diabetes in children and adolescents are “sold” to the public. Holl is head of the Computer-based Quality Management in Medicine workgroup at the Institute of Epidemiology at the University of Ulm. He has been collecting data on diabetes since 1995 and has…

Article - 12/05/2009

Fatal relatives: adiposity and diabetes

Martin Wabitsch was the first German pediatrician to investigate adiposity back when it was seen as a strange subject to study. Nowadays, in Germany the attitude towards adiposity has completely changed. More and more people are suffering from adiposity and diabetes and are consequently at risk of contracting other severe diseases as a result. In children and young adults the situation is alarming; many children are at risk of contracting…

Article - 30/08/2010

More effective prevention and treatment of diabetic feet

Dr. med. dent. Hans-Helmut Schmidt has developed a device that enables the effective and hygienic treatment of patients with diabetic foot syndrome DFS. The new device known as DIAPEDES enables diabetic feet to be treated in a closed foot-shaped container under definite clinical conditions. Diabetic feet can smell and look quite unpleasant and the preventive care that this device will offer for many users has been developed with this problem in…

Article - 14/05/2009

A multicentred approach for the treatment and prevention of diabetes

In order to counteract the increase in the number of diabetics it is necessary to take into account the entire psychosocial environment of the patients states Prof. Dr. Peter Nawroth a physician from Heidelberg University Hospital. The prevention of late complications must be a major goal of any treatment and patient consultation. By focusing on the development and investigation of the RAGE-dependent reaction system Nawroth and his team have…

Boehringer Ingelheim has three oral compounds for the treatment of diabetes type II in phase II and III of clinical development. The most advanced compound a DPP-4 inhibitor is in the final clinical phase.

Article - 02/12/2015

Diabetes research: can foetuses develop susceptibility to diabetes in uteri?

The measurement of blood glucose levels reveals changes in foetal brain response after a pregnant woman has consumed glucose. The postprandial brain response generated by the unborn children of women with gestational diabetes differs from that of children of women without gestational diabetes. Researchers from Tübingen have been using magnetic encephalography to examine the effect of insulin on the brain and the relationships between gestational…

Article - 11/05/2009

Can stem cells treat diabetes?

Stem cells are seen as the miracle cure of the future for many degenerative diseases. Scientists and physicians also hope that stem cells will exert their regenerative effect in the treatment of diabetes type 1 which is caused by damaged tissue.

Article - 25/11/2013

GlucoChat: a communication platform for the treatment of young patients with type I diabetes

The idea of being able to access a secure and relatively straightforward way of communicating with others as part of a social network definitely appeals to those who live several hundred kilometres away from a specialist doctor. However, data protection issues present a number of difficulties. careon, an e-health company from Tübingen, has found a solution by developing a platform for social network applications in which data remains…

Article - 24/09/2012

MTS: Shock wave technology for the therapy of diabetic foot ulcer

Almost 15 percent of an estimated seven million diabetes mellitus patients in Germany suffer from diabetic foot syndrome DFS. It is associated with damage to the foot nerves and blood vessels as well as the presence of chronic wounds which in thousands of cases every year precede lower leg amputations. The Konstanz-based company MTS Medical has developed a shock wave therapy system that has the potential to considerably reduce the number of…

Article - 28/02/2011

Rare fever syndromes provide insights into the anti-inflammatory effect of therapies

Quite a few people suffer lifelong regularly occurring fever and inflammation attacks with no apparent reason. The identification of the genetic causes of the syndromes has in the meantime led to the identification of the metabolic pathway involved as well as to targeted therapies. Effective treatment has greatly improved sufferers quality of life.

RHEACELL GmbH - 28/07/2022

Innovative stem cell therapy for chronic wounds

Non-healing, chronically inflamed wounds can be very painful and carry the risk of serious infections. The Heidelberg company RHEACELL has developed a unique drug based on ABCB5-positive mesenchymal stem cells that helps reprogramme the relevant immune cells and promote healing.

Press release - 21/07/2011

Phenex wins the former Head of Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases at Sanofi Aventis as advisor

Phenex Pharmaceuticals AG today announced the engagement of Prof. Dr. Dr. Werner Kramer, the former Head of Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases R&D at Sanofi Aventis, as a senior scientific advisor. At the end of last year, Prof. Kramer has left Sanofi Aventis after 25 years of very successful practice in drug discovery and development to devote himself to new scientific challenges. His long- and outstanding expertise in research and development…

Article - 21/03/2016

Shock wave therapy gives hope to many men

Although the approval of vasodilatory drugs made available an effective medicine for treating erectile dysfunction, not all men respond to this type of treatment. MTS Medical UG from Konstanz has developed a therapeutic device that means that these men can now get help too. What's more, the device has no adverse health effects.

Article - 14/02/2018

Animal-free diabetes research with the pancreas chip

Quite a number of promising drug candidates for the treatment of diabetes are currently in the pharmaceutical pipeline, including innovative drugs that can stimulate the regeneration of insulin-producing pancreatic cells. However, they will have to be safety tested in animals. Scientists from Ulm University Hospital have now begun to develop a pancreatic chip from stem cells.

Martin Wabitsch has received the Science Award of the city of Ulm. Wabitsch head of Paediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes at the University Hospital of Ulm received the award for his research on the consequences of adipositas at a young age.

Article - 30/06/2016

Why fasting is good for health

A protein in the nucleus of liver cells is produced in greater quantities when we go hungry; it limits fatty acid uptake and adjusts the metabolism in the liver. However in people with metabolic disorders, the abnormal expression of this protein (GADD45β), which was previously only known to be involved in the regulation of cell division and DNA repair, leads to a dysregulated fat and sugar metabolism. Scientists from the DKFZ and Helmholtz…

Press release - 21/09/2010

The National Cohort study

The objective of the National Cohort study, the largest prospective study ever conducted in Germany, is to provide answers to a broad range of epidemiological questions, to identify risk factors for common diseases and to open up new treatment pathways. This project is being planned since beginning 2009 by the health centers of the Helmholtz Association in a network with partners from universities and other public research institutions.

A consortium is providing funding for the development of Phenex drug candidates for type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Phenex will take its metabolic syndrome drug candidates into Phase I clinical testing by early 2010 at the latest.

Press release - 02/07/2009

Phenex receives 1.4 Mio Euro BioChance Grant

Phenex Pharmaceuticals AG today announced the approval of a 1.4 Mio Euro grant from the KMU-Innovativ-BioChance program of the German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF). The grant will support preclinical research & development of Farnesoid X Receptor (FXR) ligands for medical applications beyond Type 2 Diabetes.

Dossier - 01/02/2010

Metabolic diseases

Metabolic diseases are characterised by disorders of the intermediary metabolism which can either be inherited or acquired. The extent and incidence of metabolic diseases can differ considerably and can range from widespread diseases such as diabetes to rare congenital diseases that frequently have a fatal outcome. Through new approaches in genome research amongst other things science and industry are increasingly focusing on metabolic diseases.

Article - 12/05/2009

Islet cell transplantation gives new hope to diabetics

Establishing a medical therapy requires a great deal of patience. An interdisciplinary group of researchers at the University Hospital Tübingen knows this from experience. It took more than three years before researchers succeeded in transplanting insulin-producing cells. However, the huge effort has paid off two-fold: the diabetes sufferer feels well after the intervention and secondly, Tübingen became the first German centre to receive the…

Immunologists at Ulm University and its Medical Centre have developed a new model that could revolutionise the treatment of autoimmune disease as well as vaccine development. As 'Adaptive Tolerance' demonstrates, autoreactive antibodies are by no means disease drivers which a healthy organism swiftly eliminates. Rather, they trigger the formation of a class of antibodies that protect the body's own structures.