Canagliflozin ( Antidiabetic agent) wins The Technology Award Grand Prize from the Japan Chemical Industry Association (JCIA)

Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation MTPC announced that Canagliflozin received the Technology Award Grand Prize at the 50th JCIA Awards.

In the Awards, MTPC was highly recognized at the points success of the discovery of the excellent diabetes treatment concept and the industrialization of Canagliflozin.

The JICA Technology Award is a system for recognizing companies for contributing to the development of the chemical industry, the economy, and society through the development and commercialization of superior chemical technologies. The Grand Prize is awarded for outstanding results in those endeavors.

The awards ceremony will be held on Thursday, May 24, at the Palace Hotel in Chiyoda -ku, Tokyo.

Award received for:
MTPC ’s revolutionary idea at the treatment concept led to our anti diabetic agent “ Canagliflozin ” success

Canagliflozin features and results :
According to the Ministry of Health,  Labour and Welfare ’ s Japan National Health and Nutrition Survey (fiscal 2017), there are an estimated total of 20 million people in Japan who are pre – diabetic, that is, people for whom diabetes is strongly suspected and people for whom the possibility of diabetes cannot be denied. In addition, according to the Diabetes Atlas (2017, 8th edition) from the International Diabetes Federation, the  worldwide  population  of  people  with  diabetes  is  undergoing explosive growth, and it is reported that the number of people with diabetes will reach 425 million.

Diabetes  is  a  disease  in  which  a blood  glucose  levels  are  too  high ,  known  as hyperglycemia due to insufficient amounts of insulin which is a hormone helping the body utilize glucose , or to an in adequate response to insulin, and hyperglycemia becomes a chronic condition*¹.

If the blood glucose remains excessively high, glucose is excreted in the urine, and accordingly glucose in the urine has been considered to be a representative e symptom of diabetes. Traditional treatment s have focused on reducing glucose in the blood and the urine as much as possible.

Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma focused  on  the  mechanism  by  which  glucose  is Canagliflozin (Antidiabetic agent) wins The Technology Award Grand Prize from the Japan Chemical Industry Association (JCIA) 2/2 reabsorbed in renal tubules. We found revolutionary idea at the treatment concept of diabetes , and to ok on the challenge of the novel treatment concept, focusing on a concept under which reabsorption is inhibited, more glucose is transmitted into the urine, the glucose in the urine increases, and the excess glucose in the blood is excreted by urine.

Our  efforts  resulted  in  the  successful  commercialization  of Canagliflozin  (Tradename in Japan :  Canaglu),  an  SGLT2  (sodium  glucose co-transporter 2) inhibitor that changed the treatment concept. Canagliflozin is currently sold in more than 80 countries around the world.

Moving  forward,  Mitsubishi  Tanabe  Pharma  will  continue  working  to  provide treatment options for type 2 diabetes mellitus and to contribute to each individual patient.

*1. Prepared from partial extract from Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s e -Healthnet. https://www.e-healthnet.mhlw.go.jp/information/others/diabetes.html