Diabetes Connections

WellGen scientists recently predicted a favorable effect on diabetes from its first medical food ingredient.

WellGen, Inc. Achieves Important Milestone in Development of Medical Food for Diabetes
Pre-clinical study demonstrates proprietary black tea concentrate significantly improves glucose control

October 1, 2009 – North Brunswick, NJ –Following a successful pre-clinical study, WellGen® today announced that its proprietary theaflavin-rich black tea concentrate, already known to be anti-inflammatory, favorably affected critical biomarkers of diabetes.

The recently completed study examined whether WellGen black tea concentrate affected measures indicative of the control of diabetes such as fasting glucose, postprandial glucose, and HbA1c, an important measure of glucose control which reflects the average concentration of glucose in a subject’s blood over a prolonged time. Secondarily, the study compared the effect of a diet including WellGen black tea concentrate versus a single daily dose of metformin, the first-line pharmaceutical intervention in the treatment of diabetes.

The results of this study demonstrated that a diet containing WellGen’s proprietary nutraceutical significantly improved HbA1c, with a larger beneficial effect than the pharmaceutical metformin. Additionally, WellGen black tea concentrate lowered fasting glucose and significantly reduced postprandial glucose concentrations.

Based on this important finding and other supportive data, WellGen is planning human clinical studies to support a medical food for diabetes using WellGen black tea concentrate. The human study will examine glucose measures and markers of inflammation in patients with type 2 diabetes.

WellGen, Inc. studies natural products with anti-inflammatory properties which work at the level of gene expression under its nutrigenomics research program. The Company had predicted a favorable effect on diabetes measures using its Alignomx™ model. WellGen theaflavin-rich black tea concentrate is the first in a pipeline of natural products to go through the Company’s research program that applies biotechnology and pharmaceutical practices to discover and develop medical food products.