By Eleanor Laise
New ultrasound technology has potential to regulate metabolic function, early-stage clinical research shows
GE HealthCare Technologies Inc. (GEHC) on Thursday said it is teaming up with Novo Nordisk (NVO) to develop an ultrasound treatment for type 2 diabetes and obesity.
The collaboration is focused on peripheral focused ultrasound, a new technology with potential to regulate metabolic function–without drugs, GE HealthCare said in a release. Early-stage clinical research suggests this type of ultrasound can affect diabetes patients’ glucose metabolism by stimulating nerve pathways, the company said.
More than 37 million people in the U.S. have diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and 90% to 95% of them have type 2 diabetes.
“This collaboration with Novo Nordisk opens a path to evolve ultrasound from a means of screening and diagnosis into therapy, as well,” Roland Rott, president and CEO of GE HealthCare’s ultrasound business, said in a statement.
Martin Holst Lange, executive vice president and head of development at Novo Nordisk, said in a statement the company is looking to explore ultrasound’s potential to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity “as significant unmet needs remain in these diseases in spit of recent advances in care.”
Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The existing technology was developed by scientists at GE HealthCare’s HealthCare Technology and Innovation Center, formerly part of the GE Research Center, the company said.
GE HealthCare shares gained 0.8% premarket on Thursday and are up 11.7% in the year to date, while the S&P 500 SPX has gained 12.4%. Novo Nordisk’s American depositary receipts fell 1.9% premarket Thursday and are up 48.6% so far this year.
-Eleanor Laise