Ziylo, a spinout from University of Bristol that is working on a diabetes treatment, has been acquired by Novo Nordisk for a total that could exceed $800m.
More than 422 million people worldwide have chronic metabolic disease diabetes, according to a report by the UN’s public health agency the World Health Organisation (WHO), which projected that by 2030 the disease will be the seventh leading cause of death.
There is currently no cure for either type 1 or type 2 diabetes. The cause of type 1 diabetes remains unknown and is characterised by low levels or absence of insulin, requiring daily injections of the hormone that helps the body process sugar.
Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease, is largely caused by obesity and physical inactivity, which over time causes the body either to produce insufficient levels of insulin or develop a resistance to the hormone.
A third type, gestational diabetes, affects women during pregnancy and is characterised by high blood sugar levels that remain below the level of chronic diabetes. It can, however,…
