A French biotech startup announced on Tuesday that it would be basing its U.S. operations out of Pittsburgh, a move that comes as the company anticipates submitting its drug that treats Type 2 diabetes for clinical trials in the coming months.
Pittsburgh native James Nolan is tasked with overseeing these expansion efforts for AdipoPharma LLC. He serves as the chairman and chief business officer for a company that was formed based on research from Dr. Vincent Marion, a scientist at the prestigious INSERM institute, which in English translates to the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research.
Nolan, whose career has been spent in the pharmaceutical industry, said AdipoPharma has existed in a few iterations over the years but started to take form more significantly in 2020. It employs about 10 workers currently but as it pursues clinical trials near the end of 2023, Nolan said the company could look to employ 30 to 40 people. By headquartering its U.S. operations in Pittsburgh, Nolan said the startup will look to draw on all the resources in the region, including hiring dozens of people in the coming months to serve as consultants, suppliers and scientific advisors, among other roles as the startup ramps up for its Phase I clinical trials.
"There's no question in my mind we are in the right place to base this company," Nolan said. "We've got two powerhouses in Pitt and CMU, we've got phenomenal clinical science done here — the Allegheny Health Network and UPMC have really phenomenal resources, and it's just a good place to center."
According to Nolan, Marion's research behind the startup's PETAS drug could be revolutionary when it comes to treating the root cause of Type 2 diabetes. The startup is looking to grow these efforts out of the former AGH Suburban hospital complex in Bellevue, which is also the home of a life sciences startup accelerator program from Innovation Works and Allegheny Health Network called AlphaLab Health.
"He made a major, major discovery that I believe is going to be the breakthrough that we've been looking for in diabetes for a long time," Nolan said of Marion's accomplishments. "The fundamental cause of diabetes is insulin resistance; it's insulin not being resistant and not being able to play its actual function and the problems associated with the pancreas and getting the insulin out and all of that is part of Type 2 diabetes. We actually, we hope, are going to have the first drug ever to be indicated for insulin resistance to turn down the fundamental cause [of Type 2 diabetes]."
Nolan said this discovery involved analyzing the body's energy-storing adipocyte fat cells, which he described as being traditionally "overlooked" when it comes to diabetes research. He then went on to explain that these cells don't operate properly when someone has Type 2 diabetes but the research led by Marion has been able to directly fix the behavior of these cells, which is theorized to be a possible approach to treatment.
"It's like God put a target right in front of us for us to see," Nolan said. "If you correct it, all of a sudden with normal lipid flow, every cell starts to act the way they're supposed to act and they begin to function normally and you start seeing improvement in the disease on every factor. It's really unique."
As for financials, Nolan said the startup is "on track" to raise $26 million in funding, which will last through the necessary Phase II studies of its PETAS drug. AdipoPharma recently closed its Series A funding round, but Nolan declined to disclose its amount.
