FIGHTING CARDIOMETABOLIC DISEASE, THE LEADING CAUSE OF MORTALITY

Cardiometabolic disease includes a wide range of indications leading to heart and coronary disease. Today, it affects more than 100 million people in the developed world and represents the leading cause of death in the United States, before cancer and accidents. Even if patient care is improving, the disease continues to grow to epidemic proportions, with the continued prevalence of a variety of risk factors including:

Dyslipidemia: Dyslipidemia is a lipid metabolism disorder and refers to an imbalance in the level of blood lipids (fats), and a variety of conditions characterized by either excessively high or excessively low levels of certain lipids in the bloodstream (cholesterol, triglycerides). There are approximately 315 million dyslipidemic patients in Europe, the United States and Japan, representing an ever increasing market and a real heath concern.

Diabetes: Diabetes is defined as an excess of glucose in the blood and there are currently two known types. Type I diabetes, also known as insulin-dependant, is characterized by a complete lack of insulin, administered by injection and represents less than 10% of the diabetic population. The more frequently occurring, non-insulin dependant diabetes or Type 2 is characterized by cell resistance to the action of insulin, which is administered orally. There are approximately 60 million diabetic patients in the US and Europe alone.

Obesity: Obesity has become a global epidemic with increasing prevalence not only confined to industrialized countries. The number of obese adults is expected to grow from 127 million in 2005 to at least 139 million by 2010 in the seven major markets. The market for weight-loss drugs in the US, Europe, and Japan totalled around US$800 million in 2005. However, this market still offers huge opportunity for the development of novel, well-tolerated agents. The global anti-obesity market is forecasted to reach sales of over US$2 billion by 2010. Today, over one billion people worldwide are overweight or obese according to the World Health Organisation.

Recent evidence has shown that many of these cardiometabolic symptoms appear simultaneously in a given patient. For example, 60% of patients with Type 2 diabetes also show indications of hypertension, dyslipidemia and obesity. Genfit, in conjunction with other leading scientists, is moving towards considering these symptoms as a group as opposed to individually, thus targeting the overall “global” cardiometabolic risk. Genfit is addressing this multifactoral disease with a multimodal approach and is currently focusing on the development of several innovative compounds in line with this strategy.