ADOCIA Revealed Promising Preclinical Data on AdoShell Islets for Cell Therapy of Diabetes

Regulatory News:

Adocia (Euronext Paris: FR0011184241 – ADOC), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the research and development of innovative therapeutic solutions for the treatment of diabetes and other metabolic diseases, disclosed additional results on AdoShell Islets during recent international congresses.

Dr. Rosy Eloy, Chief Medical Officer at Adocia, expressed her confidence in the future prospect of AdoShell Islets: "We are very excited to contribute to the development of cell therapies with our innovative AdoShell, which could make it possible to cure diabetes through the implantation of allogenic cells or stem cells, without the use of immunosuppressive treatment".

Islet transplantation has long been recognized as an effective treatment for Type 1 Diabetes (T1D). However, the limitations imposed by the requirement for immunosuppression have hindered its widespread application. Adocia has set out to overcome this hurdle and has developed AdoShell Islets, an implantable and fully retrievable scaffold for islet transplantation that eliminates the need for immunosuppressive drugs while ensuring the success of the transplantation procedure.

AdoShell is based on a permselective hydrogel scaffold, reinforced by a mechanical frame, specifically designed to facilitate the diffusion of insulin while effectively preventing the invasion of immune cells. This innovative biomaterial, comprised of 95% water, is synthesized using non-degradable polymers cross-linked by bio-orthogonal click chemistry. This technology is protected via three patent applications⁴.

Human islets encapsulated in AdoShell scaffold maintain, in vitro, a gluco-responsive insulin secretion comparable to naked islets. The islet functionality is maintained at identical levels for at least 4 months. Encapsulated islets maintain rapid insulin release in response to glucose stimulation, compared to naked islets.

To evaluate the efficacy of AdoShell in vivo, encapsulated rat islets in AdoShell were implanted into immunocompetent STZ⁵-induced diabetic rats (allograft). The results obtained are really encouraging:

- In 5 independent studies, a significant insulin secretion from encapsulated islets was obtained over 1 month, compared to control diabetic rats.
- AdoShell Islets induced physiological weight gain, hyperglycemia reduction and sustained insulin secretion for more than 4 months.
- Implants were easily and safely retrieved, and as expected, rats reverted to diabetic phenotype after removal.

One of the remarkable aspects of AdoShell is its outstanding biocompatibility. After 7 months of implantation in the rat peritoneal cavity, AdoShell Islets demonstrated excellent tolerance without triggering any inflammatory reaction nor fibrosis. Notably, neither biodegradation nor immune cell penetration was observed.