Glasgow spin-out raises £4.5m for diabetes treatment

A university spin-out company that specialises in potential treatments for type 2 diabetes patients has secured a £4.5 million investment.

An estimated 380 million people worldwide have type 2 diabetes

Glasgow-based Caldan Therapeutics has attracted the funding deal led by Epidarex Capital, a leading international early-stage life science venture capital fund that has partners including drugs giant Eli Lilly.

Scottish Enterprise’s investment arm, the Scottish Investment Bank, also participated in the investment in the company, which is a spin-out from the universities of Glasgow and Southern Denmark.

Caldan focuses on creating drugs that could stimulate a range of anti-diabetic effects in multiple tissues and organs.

It is estimated that there are 380 million people with type 2 diabetes worldwide, with the figure estimated to rise to 592 million by 2035.

Graeme Milligan, professor of molecular pharmacology at the University of Glasgow, said: “We’re very pleased that Caldan is receiving the backing of Epidarex Capital and their partners.

“The underpinning basic science studies that have pointed the way to assess this new type of treatment for type 2 diabetes has been a true multidisciplinary collaboration between researchers here in Glasgow and our partners in Denmark. Our combined knowledge has led us to develop approaches we would never have created individually.”