Corline Systems AB

Swedish company Corline Systems AB, maker and distributor of CHC™ which is a proprietary and unique heparin coating technology for use in regenerative medicine, has received a 1 MSEK grant by the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems (Vinnova) to conduct a clinical trial. The study will include patients with severe diabetes type 1 who no longer have an insulin production of their own and even though under strict insulin control, cannot manage their glucose levels within desirable limits. This patient group runs a high risk of serious injuries such as blindness and heart failure even at a young age and has a significantly shorter life expectancy.

“The CHC™ project was selected out of 45 applications by the international grant committee. Our application scored high on all criteria, ranging from commercial potential, participating partners, and our ability to deliver. Obviously, we are very proud for this but our main focus is now on starting and running the study. We believe this will be an important step towards the development of better alternatives for patients suffering of severe diabetes type 1”, comments CEO Henrik Nittmar. Approximately 5 % of all diabetes patients are type 1 which means that they have no insulin production of their own. Out of these more than 4 million patients some will not be able to control their glucose levels in an acceptable manner, even though best practice insulin regimes are implemented and adhered to. These patients may be eligible for an islet transplantation in which insulin producing cells, clustered in so-called islets, from deceased donors are transplanted to the recipient. The treatment has proven to be effective in bringing back patients to a state of glucose level control, but the problem is that on average 2.7 donors are required to treat one patient. Corline has shown in pre-clinical models that if the islets are CHC™ modified, less islets are required to achieve the same benefit, and the eventual goal of the program is to have one donor for one patient. In such a case, many more of the severely ill diabetes type 1 patients could benefit from the current donor pool. “Our unique CHC™ platform is being developed as protection technology for both kidney transplantation and cell therapy. Islet transplantation is an excellent starting point for the broader application of CHC™ in other cell therapies where effective cell, tissue or even whole organ protection strategies are needed. For islet application we have a unique therapeutic approach and good IP protection, and there is a commercially viable market”, concludes CEO Henrik Nittmar.