"The ability to regulate metabolic processes is indispensible for all living cells and the mechanisms of metabolic control are complex involving multiple layers of genetic regulation," said Markus Stoffel, M.D., Ph.D., Professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. "microRNAs define a novel class of drug targets that regulate and fine-tune metabolic pathways. Accordingly, microRNA therapeutics hold significant promise as a new modality for the treatment of diabetes and metabolic diseases more broadly."

"We believe an advantage of developing microRNA-based medicines for diabetes and metabolism is the relatively quick path to clinical proof-of-concept in humans. Glucose and insulin levels are objective and well-accepted endpoints which can be readily measured following brief treatment durations to demonstrate clinical efficacy," said Hubert C. Chen, M.D., Vice President of Translational Medicine of Regulus. "microRNA targets for metabolism such as Let-7, along with our anti-miR-122 program in hepatitis C infection, will give us multiple opportunities to clinically validate microRNA biology in humans."

SOURCE Regulus Therapeutics Inc.